Ashes 灰
by Until The Bitter Ending
Summary: I stare at forbidden fruit of the Shinju in front of me and realize I can't change some things. I have to do this, for peace, even if I become like her. Kaguya SI AU
1. Chapter 1

_**SOOT**_

煤

 **The pain is blinding, a catastrophic feeling of agony and helplessness that burned into my broken body- though to be brutally honest, my life spills out of me in streams of bright red, so perhaps it will be soon that my own consciousness will slip away from this battered vessel. I cannot move, pinned down by broken steel and drowning in the black oil flowing around my face from the crushed vehicle that takes over my body, and somewhere in this numbness, I wonder if a fire will start to stir up more troubles for me.**

 **I hear a woman screaming alongside someone near my face with calm, soothing voice that possessed shreds of distress as they speak to me, only for it to not process through my mind, and I wonder if he was telling me I would be okay. Perhaps if I was more alert, I might be able to catch the words and the lies woven into the voice that comforts me in these last few moments. Red and Blue flash in my eyes, too bright, and too loud- too much, too much! When did I start to cry?**

 **My eyes felt too heavy, the distress on my body finally too much to bear, prompting it to abandon the effort; although I fight it for a moment when thinking of my older sister, my body gives out when the emergency services surround my body. With my last breath, I managed to hear a broken cry of a voice in my left ear.**

 **"There is a fatality on the scene! I repeat; there is a fatality-"**

煤

I am born again, in a rush of waves that terrified me more than that of when I was surrounded by black, liquid gold, and I am born quiet, too old for tears and too terrified for anything else. I am tugged roughly from the warmth of my new mother by feet, where they slapped my backside until I shrieked at the motion. Women are loudly giving orders, and I am tightly swaddled in silk, warm wrappings until I quiet. A man rushes towards us, not too fine looking, but he wears satin around his waist.

"What is the gender?" He cries desperately, anxiety eating away at his face when he picks me up in his terrified worry, tearing at my blankets, but one woman who I assumed was the midwife takes me back.

"Don't touch the princess!" She barks, holding me close to her bosom in comfort, her pale eyes sharp in wisdom from years and years of experience, and in her arms, I feel more loved than I have since my rough birth. I whimper uselessly when the man falls to his knees in disappointment, his head on the floor, pounding against it with his fist.

"A...princess." He repeats slowly, his eyes watch me from his place on the floor, not full of disdain like those of the ladies who surrounded me constantly for my short twenty minute life, but instead sympathetic of my situation, even if I knew not what it was or how it affected my life. "Emperor Ōtsutsuki will not be pleased. He will not be pleased at all at _another_ daughter."

I am saddened by the words, because I am a girl, but also for the fact that my gender is looked down upon in this new life of mine. Yet the reason that I began to cry was not because of this new information or this new world, but because I knew of the name of my father, the emperor. I am the daughter of the patriarchal of the Ōtsutsuki clan, in a strange land where that was once only a manga in my former life and world. I cry and cry, because of the dangers I am in and the realization of who I now am.

 **..**

I am watched constantly by a series of women, perhaps a dozen if my counting is correct, and I am alone in this world without the comfort of a mother to be there for me, and the women know I am upset by my unrest. Two different wet nurses quenched my thirst, because my own mother will not come to me to do so herself, and I believe that I am more attached to my nurse maid than to the woman who gave birth to me. My nurse is plump and pale, without a name to be called, because she is only a servant with no reason to tell me her name. The world around me is a sad one, full of completion that rages on outside in war and inside between the harem of women who are the unofficial _wives_ of the emperor.

My mother is not the empress, but a very favored consort whose political power in court is what saves her from being tossed away because of her constant miscarriages and my birth, which is worse than a dead child, because a female cannot be his heir. I am the youngest sister of four princesses, each from a different concubine than I, and they visit me often, all of them almost the same young age as my mother. Two of my new sisters are blond with dark eyes and pale skin. The other two are brunette with pale eyes like my own, and skin like satin. I do not know of their names either, but they visit me quite a bit and I am fond of them.

It is Asahi who I most fond of, because he closest to my age at six years old, and his father dragged him in alongside my own personal nurses and ladies. In front of my, he kneeled to me and swore his allegiance to me in all manners, even if he was practically still a baby (in my eyes anyway), and he was my guardian when he finished his training to become a swordsmen. It was when I realized that this was world without chakra; I finally accepted who I was, even if the tuffs of white hair and pale eyes were hint enough with the last name. I was Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, the one who would be remembered for ages in this world for being the Mother of Chakra, and the cause of the Fourth Shinobi War, and I am a terrible person, except I am not. I am not a terrible person who wants to cast out my future sons for their chakra. I am not someone who wants to combine myself with the Shinju Tree, except that I am.

They call me Nayotake-Hime, which is the name given to me by my mother, because I am not given an imperial name by the Emperor until I turn one, which proves no evil demons had entered my soul to cause an early death. My eldest sister, one of the two blonds, smiled at me when I was a few months old. She told me that our father has considered Kaguya for my name, and it is much better than her own. I am his favorite, she told me, not full of envy, but weary of this world where our father controlled everything.

It helps to confirm my anxiety, even if I already knew and accepted it. My mother comes to visit me almost every week (though sometimes it takes weeks to get her to come and in that time my maids think I am possessed with my wisdom beyond my years), and I can smell her perfume before I see her, and she is lovely, even more so than my former mother in my past life. Her face is delicate as a flower, perfectly pale like snow with rose-colored lips, and her satin slippers kiss the ground that she walks on. I winced when I first met her because her light eyebrows had been plucked into circles to represent royalty. I knew it would happen to me one day, because the Kaguya- not me, the real one- had her eyebrows plucked.

Mother's name is Sasahara of the Okina Clan, whose bamboo forests where broad and eyes were pale, but had no purpose like the Byakugan, and her platinum blond hair is always piled into elaborate styles when she visits. She never holds me, never even comes more than two feet away to where I lay. She is pleased to contemplate me from a distance, and I stare back at her just as curiously. We share lilac eyes and when she comes, I watch her eyes as she does mine. She sees my unhappiness and I see her disappointment.

She wanted a boy.

I wanted a better mother.

煤

I am renamed Princess Kaguya Ōtsutsuki when I am exactly one year old in the sweltering heat of August. I never understood how any mother could be so aloof when she stared at me on my birthday. The traitorous lords and daimyo were quiet these days as they searched for a new empire to align themselves with, because our warriors easily crushed their vassal armies, and we reigned supreme, but we were still not allowed to have my banquet outside our place walls. Mother arranged the small celebration with her closest friends of noble blood and our finest swordsmen warriors. Among our men was Asahi, whose face was serious and structured despite his youth and I pitied him for his loss of youth for my sake. His baby fat was mostly gone and his red hair was cut short, his dark eyes sad and honored all at once. He watched me for the entire banquet, and I made sure to smile at him every chance I got. I remember what it was like to grow up too quickly in my former life.

The entire time I was petted and stroked, passed around by the royal family to be their newest pet. " _Kaguya-hime_ ," They cooed in their sickly sweet voices, the women too scented for me to think and the men too damaged. Their finest warriors were broken with scars and lost limbs replaced by wooden prosthetics, and I realized how cold this world truly was with its war. It was constant bloodshed and something deep inside twisted around when I realized this, because I thought of why the real Kaguya would eat the forbidden fruit to stop the bloody wars that she no doubt saw, and I will see. I don't want to be the Antagonist nor do I wish to be influenced by the chakra, but to be able to stop a war...

My future is undetermined and fragile with Death creeping up at any opportunity if my sudden death at only seventeen was anything to say about it, but I will take it in stride, because if I must do what the former Kaguya did, I will to save lives...even if it costs me my own eventually.

 **..**

I grew up quickly as the daughter of an emperor, and at times I was overwhelmed. Seventeen years and still, I was lost in these ancient ways. There was no electricity, only candles and the sun. The entire palace rose with the sun and fell with the last candle, though small parties were often. I was only a girl, and I did not get to learn how to fight. Asahi was allowed to study alongside with me when it came to cultural matters, and I found a close friend in the older boy who was tasked with being with me between lessons, even if the situation was a little more of a master and servant feel, we were overly fond of each other's presence. My sisters and I were given private tutors, but since they were finished in their schooling, I was left alone to my own devices, and I couldn't help but think I was born into the wrong world, where all my mathematical education and school-oriented learnings would help me. Minato, Naruto, even Mirai's generation would have been better than this, where the Academy exists and my former world's education system would be useful in some way or another.

My new nurse maid, Ishii, made it her duty to teach me womanly values that I had never found necessary in my former life. She taught me dances and songs from our clan, and made sure I knew how to sew; although, I did know most of these manners and sewing, I couldn't even untie my obi or dress myself in these elaborate kimonos, and I depended on her for most things.

Ishii was twenty, with a toned, muscled body from her time in the country with her father, and she smelled like tea and flowers. She secretly taught me things forbidden to girls of my rank, such as basic stretches and how to hold the dagger she kept in her many layers of silk and satin. I appreciated her because she let me do things that I wouldn't even dream of doing without her. When she cleans my chambers, she lets me shuffle back and forth with a bamboo broom that's taller than I am, and despite my attempts, I only make a bigger mess. She lets me wash my own face (she plucks my eyebrows herself, because I may mess it up), fold my clothing, and dress myself when I can manage it. She appreciates me as an adult despite my young age of eight, while everyone else treats me like a fragile piece of glass, and sometimes I forget I'm my own person.

I wonder how the other Kaguya from the manga managed to work the courage up to leave home and approach the Holy Tree that everyone whispers about. _It's coming back_ ; they say when they think I'm not around, though I am easily missed when I hide in the nooks and crannies of this palace.

"If you stay frozen like that, I will fetch the imperial healer, Hime-sama." Asahi tells me nonchalantly, but the underlining tone in his voice is enough to remind me he is always worried over my safety. This has been his duty since I was born and he was but a boy of only six. At fifteen, he was much taller than I was, his body toned and tanned from his time in the sun, while I was short, with a sickly pallor, and soft muscles. His crimson hair was brighter now, and his darker eyes were quite a bit more mysterious; although he still had a round, childish face, he was an adult in a different way than I am.

I huffed, staring at the calligraphy I had created. It was written in flowery kanji with the terms **Beloved Lady Mother** in a deep ink on strange parchment. "How does this look?" I ignored his former statement, looking at the scroll that would be a gift for my Mother. He leans over from where he was, sharpening his blades, setting them down next to his side to stare at them for a moment to consider what they said, and when he got it, he nodded, but the look in his eye is plain enough to see that he doesn't understand what it says, but I don't say anything about it to him, or act like I knew that he didn't know.

"Yes. It will be a nice gift, Hime-sama."

"You don't have to call me that!" I blurt suddenly, before blushing in embarrassment at my own outburst. "You can call me Kaguya." I didn't even expect him to take me up on my offer, because it went against tradition, and he was a lowly servant. He looked somewhere between upset and horrified at what I had said, and perhaps that was my own fault for putting him in such a situation. To ease it up, I spoke while he was still gaping. "Or at least Kaguya-Hime like Ishii calls me," I paused, before adding a soft. "Please."

Asahi's face softened, nodding without a real response, and I gave him a soft nudge on the shoulder encouragingly. I felt guilty, very guilty for stealing his childhood the way my grandmother had stolen mine when I was young; although life protector at six and making a ten year old watch six kids under the age of seven were very different circumstances, I understood his way of thinking. Rules were everything; they were what made sure the child you were watching didn't die on your watch. I suppose however, that this also runs more towards the blood oath he took among witnesses that he would always acknowledge me as his master, so I suppose referring to me by name would make him feel like disrespecting his reason for living, in a way.

"Kaguya-hime," He speaks cautiously, almost unsure of the unfamiliar words in his mouth, and I smile at him, a giant smile that relays everything I feel towards the only one in this world I can call a _friend_ , happiness flooding through me veins, and I encouraged him on with setting down my ink brush to give him my full attention. "Do you think...I mean if you wish...?" He trailed off, looking at his swords uselessly, like they would give him a sudden boost of confidence that would be enough to get him through his words.

I smiled, thinking of some blurry memories of my high school experience with boy his age of fifteen, who were loud and obnoxious, with only sex on their minds and I couldn't picture Asahi like that at all, he was too composed for such actions. "I might be able to help if I know what it is," I said sunnily, which must have been enough to get a fire lit under his confidence, and he met my eyes for a few moments.

"I cannot read." He admits what I had known, "Can you...teach me, if it conveniences you, how to read?" Asahi looks down like it was shameful for a teenager to ask an eight year old princess how to read the language, which was surprising to me, because even with my advanced mind, I have constant difficulties with certain characters. He stares back at his blade again, but I nudged his arm again to get his attention.

"Of course," I reply formally. I dig around the scrolls I have around me, looking towards the one written by the monks of Goddess Amaterasu just for me by order of my father, and I carefully unrolled it, the simplest of kanji were written on the page for childhood learning, but I had never needed it, so I offered it to him to hold while I started to point to one or two. He was smiling. I was smiling. I hadn't felt like this in a very long time, I hadn't felt needed and I hadn't had a real friend for eight years.

I wonder, did the other Kaguya have Asahi as a friend...Did she have anybody in this world of loneliness and royalty? Or was the only constant in her life her obsession with peace that had stretched too far into chakra and destruction? For the first time since my discovery of this villain in my favorite anime and manga did I wonder if she really deserved to be one? And would _I_ turn out like **her**?


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N:_** _I have a thing for villains, although I do hate Obito with passion. I love Kaguya and don't think they did her justice. Villains are made, not born and that's what I believe happened to Kaguya. It may be slow, and it may seem like she's going to just copy the real Kaguya, but believe me this is AU. But haven't you ever just wondered what made her like that before chakra?_

 **..**

 ** _EMBER_**

 **残り火**

I do not have a chance to see my mother for months after my twelfth birthday, and I do not mind it much seeing as we no longer even pretended to get along, seeing as she was still an aloof, hurtfully bored spirit whose only concern was the latest fashion trends to continue to be a perfect flower in my father, the emperor's garden of beautiful woman. Her only concern is to bear the emperor a son before the empress or the other concubines, and I have never felt more uncomfortable in this situation, seeing as my world had polyamorous relationships, but those were few and far between. I have many different _mothers_ in the form of the empress and other concubine. The youngest of my father's women is only sixteen, and we do not get along, but I still like her better than my own mother, and Mother knows it.

With this said, it is my great surprise when I am summoned into Mother's chambers with Asahi at my side, looking older than he should be at eighteen years old, and I would secretly say he was handsome, more so than any of my boyfriends in the other world, and I would try to give him small bouts of flirting that wasn't so much rejected, but confusing in a way he didn't understand. He walked obediently by my side, his newly installed armor and sword shining in the morning light as we walked down the hall.

"What would Her Ladyship want?" He wondered aloud, a sharp look hurrying the other servants down the other end of the hallway just a little faster, and I shrugged, tugging the ends of my kimono up, and my silk slippers sliding me down the hallway, and what I wouldn't give to have real genin sandals or tennis shoes rather than pinched silk and hard bamboo sandals. I tried not to notice the tug of his lips at my effort not to go flying down the hallway, his steps more defined to show off his Shinobi sandals, and I swear if he didn't mean my survival, I would strangle his quietly snarky self in a heartbeat.

I hitched the rest of the dress up, tucking it into my obi. "Most likely Mother wants to torment me with more criticism." I murmured under my breath, but he had heard if the twitch in his face said anything about it, and he gave her a comforting nudge on my shoulder. That was our system, because someone like him wasn't supposed to someone of my rank unless necessary, and the same goes for me or there would be consequences against Asahi that I couldn't protect him from. These small touches are as much as a hug as I could get, and I sort of understand in a way. I wouldn't have been able to just go on and hug Queen Elizabeth anytime I pleased or at all with her status, and the same for the young Prince...James? George? Yes, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

Asahi opened the door for me, cutting off two of my mother's ladies who were to do for me, just to prove his efficiency, and I ignore the girls. They were young, like Asahi, but they too were only concerned with men and pleasing their mistress, my mother, so much like little girls who wanted a treat from a candy shop from their mommy. It reminded me of high school girls with their teachers, leaving apples on their desks.

The door shuts behind me as the sweet scent of perfume interrupts my musings, and I forgot how awful it was to be around this woman, and she stands to greet me with her retinue following after her. It is the first time I have seen her in almost two years with only a glance or two in the hallway. I wasn't so much dazzled as I was shocked to see her. She was still beautiful, but something huge was different. She had gained weight, her make up was fully done, painted on her thickly like a geisha, and her silvery-blond hair piled high on her head with flowers layered throughout, and an elaborate kimono grander than anything I have ever seen, alongside jewelry made of jade and silver. I had seen many pregnant women in my time, but those were more of child support babies than actual planned children, so I had never seen someone glow like her, and she's smiling brightly at me, motioning for her entourage to sit down on the ornate pillows around her chair, and they fell to their knees around her life dying bees.

"Kaguya..." She says softly, pausing before she chooses to speak, her arms moving to go around me in a hug that I have never received from her before, and I stare at her in confusion as her swollen stomach pokes into my chest, looking away awkwardly. "As you can see, I'm carrying your little brother." She releases me from her hold to put both of her jeweled hands onto her stomach in her excitement, and I've never seen Mother like this before in all of my life, and I would remember (living in infant years in horrific, by the way), so I remained like a statue, waiting for her to speak more over what she wanted from me at this point.

As far as I knew, Kaguya didn't have a little sibling, but then again I didn't even know she had four older sisters either, so I couldn't really say anything against this, so I gave her a forced smile, which Mother took in stride. "I can see your excitement; you will no longer be looked upon as the infant of the family. This is what I have been fighting for all of our lives. With this son, we will be favored even above the empress with only a decreased daughter to her name." She was giddy with this achievement, but she did have a history of miscarriage and had a girl, so I wouldn't count on a son too much, but this did soften up my heart enough to think I may have a sibling. I may have a little sister or brother, and that was enough to get me excited too. But of course, my mother could feel my blooming happiness and decided the best course was the rid me of it.

"Oh! Untuck this!" She tugged my dress back down, then resumed her conversation. "The emperor has summoned you." She avowed, looking as regal as a queen, with a smile as she moved back to sit on her throne-like chair that was most likely a gift from my father. "He realizes his mistake of overlooking you and has decided to put you back into his favor like when you were an infant. You don't remember, of course, but he named you Kaguya out of great pride in you, dear." She recounted, looking like she was remembering a dream. I gave a tight smile, because oh yes, I did remember. I also remember his messenger being the one to give me a name on his behalf. Paternal love isn't high on the list of the emperor, since I've never even seen the guy, but I smiled awkwardly with a nod.

She must have taken my silence as a stunned amazement. "Yes, yes, dear, I know. You are in his favor! Now, he's already married off all of your sisters to less than proper men of different rulers, for alliance, but he's considering a proper marriage for you. You are twelve-"

"I don't want a marriage!"

She looked appalled at my outburst, and then slowly her arms slumped down in a calming manner. "I understand," She told me calmly. "I understand, Kaguya, because his is a worrisome subject at such a fragile age, but it is necessary for you to understand the situation. HIs other daughters were expendable, they could be married off to other daimyo, but he needs you. If he has a daughter with a son in a bloodline here, he will have a second heir after your brother." She rubs her stomach fondly, not quite looking at me, but thinking of only herself and my unborn _brother_ in this matter, so I give her a hot stare that was taken a threatening to the spirit of the baby, seeing as all of her ladies and maids rushed in front of her, begging me to stop my bad spirits.

"Why not just have one of girls have another daughter?" I asked sarcastically, all my teenage rebellion rolling into one bitchy soul, and I all but sneer at this woman who gave birth to me and to the former Kaguya. "I don't want to marry a cousin or neighbor or lord, just so his grandson can take the throne after your son; _IF it is a boy and if it lives long enough to take the clan over."_ I spat out with contempt, not towards the unborn baby or even towards my mother, but to the system that takes over this world before Shinobi, where little girls could be married off and emperors could have more than one wife. I was used to freedoms and rights and here, I am controlled and watched.

 _I am a bird in a jeweled cage._

Mother jumps to her feet, wailing like a madwoman, pointing at me dangerously. "Get her out! Get her out! Her aura is threatening her brother, my son! GET HER OUT!" She spluttered out, loudly, her arms flailing like a drowning man trying to save themselves from their watery death. Two of the older ladies who were there for my first birthday and my birth cling to my arms, while the younger teenagers open the door for me, and they reassure me with rushed, incoherent words that it was hormones and I needn't be upset; although, that did not stop them from basically throwing me out of the room and I turned around just as the large door was slammed, while Asahi came towards me, tenderly nudging my arm, but for a moment, I didn't care for anything else and I slammed myself into his arms, my shoulder shaking with tearless, soundless sobs over everything I lost in my old world and everything I have to lose in this one.

 **残り火**

Horses whined.

The litter jolted and jostled in an unsteady, erratic manner that left me uncomfortable and upset, and I would give up my entire supply of silks and jewels for a small chance to just get out onto one of those horses or stretch my legs just a little, because this was maddening. I tried to readjust no more than once or twice, because it inconvenienced the servants carrying me, and I wondered if this would be easier with chakra. Asahi rode his horse next to my litter, glancing in to look at me since I had the windows with the mosquito nets and privacy silks rolled up to get fresh air. He may be my friend, but was my guardian first, so if protocol said I had to sit in this Godforsaken litter, I was sitting in the litter and no amount of persuading would convince the man otherwise, even my emotional attempts at begging.

To say I was pleased about this visit to the Emperor's palace would have been a lie so great; it could be considered a sin. This outer world is almost like the Elemental Nations, except no Shinju Tree as far as I can tell from this portion of my trip. I also learned how horrible it is for those not born into the status of royal, noble, or warrior. The last village we passed through that was under my father's rule was scarcely surviving, with their arid lands cracked from the blaze of the sun, and the greenery was withered and dead. Asahi almost had a heart attack as children prostrated themselves around my litter while adults tossed themselves in front of my entourage of soldiers and carts to beg, and it didn't help that I started throwing them stuff out of my large litter like silks and gold and snacks. The children wore rags with sunken little cheeks, and I pitied them until my heart clenched painfully for their sakes. It was after that, I swore that something would change, if not for my sake, but for these people- _my people_ \- because they deserve better than throwing themselves into the danger of being trampled by horses to get basic survival necessities.

"Can I take a small walk, please, Asahi?" I begged softly, giving him my sweetest look, but he chuckled, shaking his head at me like I am a little child, even though I am would be officially twenty nine in my other world if I had lived, and twelve in this one. I shot him another annoyed look, wondering if I _'accidentally'_ got my protector killed, would I get a new one? I mumbled my idea aloud, prompting a noisier than the first since he heard me, and trotted his horse slower.

"Excuse my free speaking, Kaguya-hime, but we both know you would not survive with anyone other than me," The man rolled his eyes at my words because we both knew it was true, because I needed him for my safety and as my closest friend, and admittedly, he needed me too. At eighteen, he still couldn't read at my level, but he at constant lessons whenever we had time to sit down.

"Stop being such a scrooge and let me have my fun. I want out of this litter."

"A..what, Princess?" He repeats, "Sc.. ."

"A scrooge." I told him firmly. "Now, I wish to walk, let me out."

Asahi sighed knowingly, like he was so used to my weird behavior that he gave up on me, but then again, what did anyone honestly expect out of me? I was one of those weird kids who liked anime and cartoons and action movies, but still maintained their good girl act of documentaries and learning channels. I was the type to listen to classical on my playlist only for it to turn into screamo the next song. I was still me, sort of, and I would act like it until someone caught on to it, and made me stop.

"No."

At that rejection of my wishes, a thought came flying through my mind like a burst of ninjutsu (slow your roll mind, that hasn't been invented yet!), as I realized something that made me smile excitedly. I am Princess Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, the daughter of the Emperor, and I have royal blood in my veins, and I am the boss of them. Every man and woman, whether be guard or lady, peasant or noble, they all fell under my direct order as members of my household and my kingdom.

"Yes." I leaned out the other window on my left where the main young man who directed my litter was carrying the wooden stick that kept me in the air. "Stop this litter, please. I want down." I directed, using my manners more as instinct that anything else. The man gave a shout towards the other three men holding the staffs, and they stopped, relieving themselves of the weight by setting me down at my order. Asahi's horse gave a huff of air out of its nose, noisily trotting in place when my guardian stopped him. I smirked knowingly at him, the excitement bubbling in my chest, because I win! Against the odds, I have this game, and I know for a fact if this was chess, this would checkmate against not only my mother (who is under me in rank, now that I think about it), but also against Asahi who is my best playmate and fiercest opponent when it came to protocol and safety.

"Kaguya-Hime, what are you-"

"I'm the princess, right?" I inquired of him as I got out of the littler, stretching my sore legs that had been tucked under me the entire ride as I kneeled in proper positioning of a girl of my rank. I moved them around, trying to bend down and rub them, but the many layers of this kimono made it difficult. "You follow my orders don't you?" I continued, innocently, staring up at him with my unnerving, pale eyes.

Asahi's head jerked. "Yes, Kaguya-hime, you are, and yes, I shall do _whatever_ is asked of me." He seemed to understand what I was saying, because he looked angrily at the ground, but I nudged his shoulder (it was difficult at my short height), and smiled at him the biggest that I could.

"Don't worry. I won't walk very slowly. I'll be fine; we're halfway there, anyway." I told him gently, and to my utter joy, he nudged me back, a smile on his face at my victory, and he gave me challenging glance.

"Stay by me at all times, please, Kaguya-hime." He directed me, handing off his horse to another young boy, obviously going to take this long stroll with me, and I beamed, before he added, "If you are so sure you can make it."

"Of course I can!"

As I have done a thousand times before, I hitch up my skirts and tuck them into my obi, marching on defiantly.

 **..**

Only fifteen minutes later, I found out that rocks will destroy your feet if all you are wearing are silk slippers. I got back into my litter, just as defiant as before, but the feeling of victory had long since faded around the time I tripped and fell.

 _I pretended not to hear Asahi's laughter._

 **残り火**

Before I was forcibly taken away from my nurse Ishii, she taught me everything I would need to fully be able to shine in this world of the Emperor, and I knew everything there was to know. I was trained as intensely as a warrior, except what I learned was for the mental capacity. The great curtsey, the slow walk, the fast walk, how to treat those of my ranking, how to speak to the Empress, how to speak with Emperor, how to look at him, even how to breath, the glided walk, I know everything that there is to know when I am here.

In life before this, simple natural things were not even though of, but this place is much different than my old life in America and the life at the palace where the women and children stayed. Eating, drinking, sleeping, sitting, speaking, walking, rising- the mundane acts of my natural life were carefully and meticulously monitored by codes and protocol. Ishii had prepared me for the quiet scrutiny that would come when I entered, but never had I expected to be watched so thoroughly, where even Asahi could not walk beside me, and I wasn't even summoned to my new father the first few weeks. I lived and breathed in this palace, I even turned thirteen here, but no on summoned me for almost two months. I had people sent to inform him of my arrival, and still, no one arrived to summon. No one even pretended to care I was here. To my surprise, I was summoned one day, but not by my father, but by his new wife, The Empress.

Her name has been changed, just like mine was when I was younger, and the last one I had heard of was something my new father had called her Yūgana tsuma, or the Gracious Wife. It wasn't a compliment per se, but it was better than losing his favor all together.

Even Asahi is not allowed to come inside her chambers with me, and all of her ladies are gone away from the area, leaving in a quiet privacy. The room is- as is the rest of the world- a mix of some Chinese and different era of Japan history all crushed into one place. The Empress is sitting in a chair, a worn scroll in her hands, and she does not even look at me or my curtsy when I enter, and I am given time to just examine the woman called Yūgana tsuma.

From what I can see, there are no defects in her limbs, and her body isn't deformed, with a delicate frame, and a pretty face. She isn't older either, maybe mid-middle aged with nice skin with the exception of some wrinkles, caused more by anxieties than by age, which makes her appear some years older. Her hair is still black and color with pale eyes like mine. It takes her several minutes of reading whatever it was that she is reading until she looks at me, still in my low curtsey and head slightly bowed. The Empress motions me over to her, and I smile brightly, if only a little nervously.

"I've been studying this prophecy written by an old monk who once appeared out of the waters of Konran no Mizūmi." She tells me nonchalantly, looking at me like she is peeling my skin off and seeing me as a whole, like she knows of what I am, and she has seen every sin I have ever done in this life and my past. "Of course, he's dead now, I only met him when I was pregnant with me daughter and I swore that it would be my daughter who would become-" She stops dead in the middle of the sentence. "Kaguya, how many sisters do you have?"

"Four." I answer quickly, but I know that she knows, because she is the Lady of the Empire and the clan, and we belong to her as daughters as well.

"And how many have pale eyes?"

"Two of them, and myself."

"Yes," She replies. "Don't forget my daughter, your fifth sister, and the fourth person to bear pale eyes."

"My apologies," I babbled. "I forgot that you had-"

Yūgana tsuma stared at the scroll in her hand, slapping it against the wood of her chair, and it was like a gunshot had gone off, because it shut me up automatically. "The blind man hadn't been distinct enough in _whom_ would be bringing peace to these lands as a goddess, but as to what they would possess as a person." She looked at the scroll in bitterness, but never did regard me with any distain or contempt, at least.

She recites it from memory. " _The daughter of an Emperor, a princess to her people, and a savior to this world, with eyes pale and strong soul;_ a rough translation, but enough to hint as to who it will be."

"Your Majesty, I-"

"Had four sisters with pale eyes, so it couldn't possibly be you, right? You're the youngest and smallest, so it couldn't be you who would taste the fruit of a tree that was cast away into a world not like this one?" She cackled, more to herself than anyone else. "Your right, you know. You weren't my first choice. It was _my_ daughter, Taketori, but then she died in a raid on the castle over a land dispute. She was _murdered over land_ , Kaguya!"

I flinched back violently at the words coming out of her mouth, because I knew what she would say, I knew that I would be the one to eat the fruit and become the Mother of Chakra to bring peace to the war torn world, only to get overwhelmed and cause destruction by my craziness. But to think of what Kaguya had to go through, to have a half-sister killed over land and power, and I felt so horrified for her. She had a crazy, son-obsessed mother, a man-made nut of an empress, a marriage impending at twelve, and a father who didn't even want to be in her company after inviting _her there._ Kaguya was so young and impressionable, and here is her Empress telling her that she's destined for this (and she is), but to tell her about a sister she didn't even meet? _Horrific._ The pity I feel for the former Kaguya is intense, even after all the terrible things she did. No wonder she went crazy after living with these people.

"So I looked at all of your sisters, and they were all _too weak._ " She gripped the edges of her kimono, tugging it in her madness. "It was you! Its taboo, you know, to eat from the Shinju Tree, but in a few years a fruit will grow and you will bring peace by killing those who defy the idea!" Jumping at me, Yūgana tsuma grips my face with one jeweled palm, pressing the scroll into my hand as forcefully as she can, shaking in her crazed hallucination. "This will tell you how to get Konran no Mizūmi in exactly seven years, and eat the fruit, okay? Kaguya-"

The door is opened forcefully, two ladies rushing in with two men with the Ōtsutsuki lower family crest that means they are the servants of the Emperor. "Kaguya-hime," The bearded one says, his prayer beads swinging on his hands, and I hid the scroll in my kimono because it would be useful later. He grabbed onto me gently, ushering me out as the Empress wailed when the ladies and other eunuch tried to convince her to drink whatever that tea-like liquid was in a clay cup, and she dove for me again, her eyes dim, and I stared at her, stunned as I am pulled from the room and she is pulled from me.

"I am sorry, Your Highness. The Empress is very sick and needs her medicine-"

"Kaguya! KAGUYA! Do as you are told!" She shrieked madly. "Avenge your sister! Bring about peace-"

The door is slammed shut behind me.

 **残り火**

I hide with a candle in the closet of my chambers, crouching down, hidden from any prying eyes even if I am supposed to be asleep. Asahi is on a small cot outside my door, protecting me and lightly sleeping to listening to if any noise happens in my room incase an enemy sneaks in while he is not allowed in my bedroom.

I skim through the instruction to get the Konran no Mizūmi, and instead look at the rough sketches of this tree and the forbidden fruit, thinking over what the Empress said, and I couldn't even begin to comprehend how horrific a death this girl, Kaguya's (my ) half-sister must have faced to get to break her mother like that; over land, of all things. The picture of the fruit if vivid with crushed berries as coloring, and I can just see it in my head. Innocents like Taketori couldn't have to die in war, and innocents like Naruto shouldn't have to be destroyed because I wasn't sure of being the Mother of Chakra. If anything, besides Neji, in the end everything goes well and peace is won for ages and ages, if not forever. I clutch the picture tighter, bringing it closer to the flickering light for a better view.

 _I stare at forbidden fruit of the Shinju in front of me and realize I can't change some things. I have to do this, for peace, even if I become like_ _ **her.**_


	3. Chapter 3

**_CINDER_**

 **** **灰分**

It is because she is crazy that the Empress has enough gall to stand up to her husband. Despite her madness, she influences him and I am glad for it, because even at sixteen I am still unmarried, waiting for the perfect suitor is what I am told, but I know the truth.

I have been here for almost three years, and never have I ever seen this man who is my father, and I know why, because my mother failed in giving him a son once again. She miscarried, and then sent me a message via her private messenger to prepare for his wrath and to flee; only I didn't, and it never came. I didn't see this horrible side of him, instead he began sending me gifts, just like my mother, but these were different. He sent me thick, baggy silk pants like worn by Asahi, and an elaborate dress that was sleeveless and colored with gold and purple. If anything, it looks like the picture shown on the anime that depicted Kaguya and the fruit, and to say I was overwhelmed was an understatement. For each gift I am given, I am also sent a new tutor. I learn fighting and war-planning, alongside dance and song, and politics. He piles on my tutors, even when the only time I get alone is sleep, and he takes away my only friend in this entire caste of stone.

The war outside these walls is raging on, and it gets closer, so close that one day when the ladies and I went down towards the river, the water ran red with blood. If anything, the most blood I ever saw as a girl in the other world was when I took an internship at the hospital before I died, not to mention living with a whole line of nurses in my family tree, and I knew how many bodies it would take to turn all the water crimson. They called on every able man and child to fight alongside our soldiers, even some strong women were called off. Asahi was no exception, his father and himself were both renowned for their tactical and fighting skills, so he was the first to be shipped off to the front line, despite my constant protests against it. The last message I got from my oldest sister was that my old nursemaid Ishii was too sent to battle with her father near the countryside. I was alone, my tutors barely being paid because of the droughts and battles that depleted our entire wealth, and it left the clan poor, and the people starving. I wouldn't say I was particularly good at the matters of the state, but I'm pretty sure that when it comes to people starving, it means rebellion against those who have food, such as- oh, I don't know, the royals? That would be me, one of the five noble princesses, though thankfully, my sisters have been removed from the state with their warlord husbands, and I am the only one with any real danger, but Asahi and Ishii are my only real concerns.

Asahi tried to send me a message on a piece of ribbon or cloth or even tree barks whenever the opportunity arisen by giving it to a wounded warrior who was sent back to the clan, but after a short period, he just stopped all together. I shouldn't be this worried, seeing as this would be a normal occurrence in this time period, as there were no telephones or even pigeon carriers yet. But it didn't stop my heart from beating madly whenever they brought back wounded men just so I could attack them with questions over my best friend, was he alive? Did he send a message?

What was more worrying was the fact that I was fading away, which sounds strange, except Kaguya- no myself was taking over, all of my experiences piling up to destroy the parts of me that belonged to the past. I was forgetting things that didn't need to be forgotten, like my old name and my older sister's name. I can't remember how many foster homes I was in until we were both adopted, or who adopted me. I can remember everything about Naruto and the future, but the rest is a terrible blur. I can't even tell you who the main character of Black Butler is. Everything that made me was fading into Kaguya, but that could be overlooked. I didn't need to know who I was because I was dead; although, admittedly it would have been nice to just be able to remember the name of my older sister. She was a nameless figure in my life with her gangly, over-bleached hair and wide hazel eyes whose smile melted my heart and whose clothes I loved to steal.

"Are you even trying?" Lady Murasaki raged, looking about to pop in her anger when I plucked the wrong string on the Yamatogoto, and I gave the women a large smile, looking ever the beautiful young lady I was supposed to be, nodding.

"Of course I am, Lady Murasaki." I respond, already bored of her lesson, but of course, if I didn't know music, what would I do with myself? Perhaps the clan will fall in battle if I can't remember these notes and songs, so I look on politely. She looks exasperated at my lack of musical skill, her pretty face looking burdened, and she rubs her temples with her jeweled fingers, using one hand to spin a circle.

"Play it again, and then we can work on the song itself."

I didn't complain or huff, just plucked the strings in the way she had taught me to, easily remembering _most_ of the notes, and she hums along with the interesting poem that is sung along with the notes, but I've never managed to get the correct combination. I wasn't musically talented liked this women who was my father's newest favorite women. She was gifted in all types of instruments that I had never heard of like this Yamatogoto and the Gawa, and even these percussion type instruments. I wasn't envious, but I would like to know I was good enough for her to not be able to call me a failure.

 _Dum. Strum. Dum. Dum, dum, dum, dum, strum._

 ** _Strung!_**

With my last note a total misstep, Lady Murasaki snatched the Yamatogoto from my hands, the annoyance radiating off of her, and she stared at me like an impotent child that needed scolding, and I stared back at her just as hatefully, because even with the favor of the Ōtsutsuki patriarch, I still out ranked her, and we both knew it.

"I will play, you can sing." Her lips were thin and tight as she agreed to her own terms, like I was forcing her into doing something she didn't want to do, and I wasn't, but she needed to let me do something. If music wasn't my talent, then singing would have to be, because she couldn't present me to Father one day empty handed, with painfully off-tune strums and off-key sums. Her fingers automatically went to the correct strings, and the only thing I couldn't deny about the women was her sense of music, because when she played, it was like her hands became one with the instrument, like they were attached. Her fingers moved so quickly, like art, that I thought she would be excellent at hand seals if she had been born a kunoichi, but this is a warrior dominated world where ninja aren't even a thought yet. It is a pity, actually, because these women may be stronger and brasher if the opportunity arisen for them to be _more_ than just little wives and mothers and concubines. If given a choice, may be they could be, but I didn't have any more time to think about it before she shot me a dark stare to get me going.

" _Many clouds arise: The clouds which come forth a manifold fence: For the husband and wife to retire within_." I sang as boldly as I could, because I knew that behind those silk curtains, ladies were listening and would talk about my voice, whether it is good or poor.

There is a moment of just music, and in that moment I can't think of anything else but Asahi. I think of how he would like this, because he loved the arts, like calligraphy and music, and it is always so nice to him smiling. I used to make him calligraphy for his birthday and the festivals to honor the gods, and he never said anything about the sloppiness or the lack of creativity of them. He thanked me for them, never smiled, but he looked happy. He always looked happy whenever he was with me and we were alone, not the get in your pants kind of happy like in my other world, but the real and honest happy from one person to another.

He would like this, and I would force myself to learn the music just to play it for him one day, when he came back (I've never been in denial, not even in death, but something inside of me told me that wait for him to come back, he couldn't possibly die..), and I would give him a real big show of it.

"They have formed a manifold fence: Oh! that manifold fence!" I finished, trying to smile, to show that I was trying hard to sing about Kushinadahime and her husband, but I couldn't bring myself too, not when I was thinking too hard over my only friend, and if anything ever happened to him, I would be allow. Nothing to ground me to this world besides a crazy mother and an Empress whose entire life depended solely upon my success in her vision, and that's all I would have to keep me sane when I ate the chakra fruit.

Lady Murasaki said something, whether it was a critique, a snarky remark, or praise, I will never know, because I felt nauseous at the thought of Asahi dying before I could change things, before I could stop all of this madness. I saw firsthand what war did, I saw our warriors come home missing limbs and scorned for their weakness, and the ground dyed red with blood, and I didn't want Asahi to become just another corpse on the ground, because he wasn't just another body, he was my friend. Maybe, if this was an anime, he would just be a filler character, but he wasn't! He wasn't just filler! He was a person! He was **_my_** person. I needed him, and I hoped he still needed me.

He can't die until there is peace. He just can't. Just a few more years, all I need are a few more years.

 _Don't die, please._

 **灰分**

Another year passes, and I turn seventeen, and my anxiety is higher than ever before, because this was the age I was when I died. I couldn't say I had PTSD (I did, but I couldn't say it!), and I was cautious over everything, trying to avoid anything that reminded me of my first death. Thankfully oil wasn't here, and I could avoid the substance I basically drowned in, and cars were gone. I hadn't seen my own blood, and it didn't hurt as much to see it as it did when I first saw it. Of course, it was hard to avoid blood. It was hard because when the wounded came back, I rushed out to find Asahi or his body, and there was always so much blood.

Ishii came back one day, she looked different than the playful, devious woman who taught me stretches and hid a dagger in her kimono. She's twenty nine year olds, with a broken smile, and a large gash across her chest that may get infected, and I use all the knowledge I know from my hospital internship to help with that.

I pour sake all over her and pretend she doesn't shriek when I do, because alcohol will help. I wait until the gash is healed as much as it will before I talk to her, longing to know what's happened to my old nurse, and she smiles at me when I come in when she's lucid enough to know me.

"Well if it isn't the little Princess!" She says cheerfully, and I smile back at her, pretending I can't hear the edge in her voice, the sad, pained one that you use when you don't want to worry family. "Although, it seems you grew a few feet. Adulthood looks good on you, but don't think I will be any better, I'm still your elder, Little Princess."

"Why'd you go to war?" I blurted out suddenly.

Her face dropped, and she runs a hand through her indigo hair, looking stressed as anyone could even begin to look. "They threatened my home village, and my father called on me after I went home. I needed to do this, because it was my home. I'm sorry if I worried you, but I was safe with Asahi-"

"You were with Asahi? Is he okay?!"

Her eye flash strangely, but then she gingerly nods, but doesn't really clarify. "He's alive. I'm tired, perhaps you could see me later, Hime."

It didn't sound right. She was lying about something.

I was sure he was dead.

 **..**

I wait and wait and pray to whatever God will listen for Asahi to come back to the palace. I write to my mother and to my sisters via tiny scrolls and messengers to find out if he's there and nothing, he's still fighting, he's still just gone. The battles are spread across the nation, with different clans and tiny empires, and no one ever tells me anything. It hurts, but I know...I know he's dead.

I accept that bitterly, and hope maybe he'll be reincarnated into someone else, into a time better than this.

I turn eighteen only six months after Ishii returns. I send her away in grief for her lies and stop learning folk songs for Asahi.

I became an adult and that is where my story really begins.

 **灰分**

No one wants to say it, but we all know my father is dying. _A wound on the battlefield_ , the whisper, _sickness has set in._

I find myself not so sympathetic with the situation, because I am bitter. He took away my friend, and he summoned me almost six years ago, and still I have never seen him. I have been here six years, tormented with duties and learning and sleep deprived. I am so tired of all of this. I am summoned to his side, and I am angry to see him. He has had six years, and only now I am worth his time, and I do not want the attention of a dying man.

I enter the main hall, my silk pants and sleeveless kimono showing off my pale skin and still weak, untoned muscles. I enter, only to stop in my tracks when I see my sisters, all four of them and the Empress (who is angry and looking at them in disgust), and Isukeyo, the eldest blond, is holding the hand of her six year old son and four year old son. Ada, Kotohime, and Sasaha (who was named partially after my mother when she was still favored) all stand with their boys, from six to newborns. Each boy is dressed to the nines, in enough gold to buy a third world country, with gold silks embroidered with the kanji for **Strength** and **Noble Son** , and things of that nature. My sisters and their husbands are dripping in jewels and jade jewelry. They all wear makeup and elaborate hairstyles with gold pins, flowers, and their lack of eyebrows are colored into different shapes. Even the Empress is not so over-dressed.

My hair is loose around my shoulders, reaching well past my lower back, and I am wearing my plainest clothing, with only lip coloring to my name. I look at them in shock, staring at my brothers-in-law, and my nephews, and only then did I notice that my nieces weren't there. No one greets me, only the Empress who is my closest ally, and the Lady of the Clan, and she swoops in to my aid.

"Kaguya-chan," She greets me, leaning in to kiss my cheek gently, her arms wrapping around me. "Just in time, the Emperor has been calling for you, and I was so worried that you would be late. Do greet your sisters before you go in." There is a strange triumph in her voice that makes me look at her in confusion, just as my sisters swoop in around me, each shoving my nephews to me.

"Kaguya..." Kotohime changed her tune after a moment of consideration, "Imouto, please, do take in my little son in with you. I wish for Father to see him, he is so new after all."

Ada interrupted, quickly moving forward, and I noticed her blond hair elegantly in a twisted bun braid. "No, no! Please take my boy; he wants to wish his grandfather off into the Heaven of the Gods, oh...our poor father." She doesn't seem too sympatric to the situation itself, or perhaps emotions are harder to read under all that make up.

Sasaha and Isukeyo move with their boys to my side, but the Empress beats them to the punch. "She is to enter alone. If he wanted to see your sons, he would ask!" She regally states, looking every bit the woman in charge as she is supposed to, and there is no sign of madness anywhere. They look bitter, but I do not care. I march forward, prepared for I may face.

 **..**

I enter slowly, almost cautiously so, and before I can do anything except look at the wooden bed, I hear a crackled yell. "Do not bow, come here."

I approach his bed, where he lays and prepare myself for this man who is supposedly a god, but what I see instead astounds me to no end. He is old, perhaps in his fifties, but he had a smooth face, pale eyes, and lavender-grey hair that has an ashy look to it, and bandages wrapped around most of him, covered by an outfit reminding me of what Toneri wore in Naruto The Last, but I shook it off to smile bitterly at the man who was my father. The man who kept me at arm's length for six years, despite living in the same stone castle as me, and he gives his own wheezy laugh at my appearance.

"I can't say I'm not happy to see you," He breathed, painfully if I might add if his flinch was to say anything about it. "I cannot say...you look like your mother. She would never wear such plain clothes," He laughs at his own joke. He is so mortal that it hurts, because I expected someone larger than life, not dying in bed. He reaches for my hand when I lean over him, and I slip it into his rough, calloused hands.

"Tell me; are they outside looking like decorations?"

I smile at that, bowing my head down to hide it. "Yes, Your Majes-"

"Father!"

"Yes, Father." I correct quickly, and he looks at me with weary eyes, like a thirsty man seeing water for the first time, and I stare back at him, unafraid of him. He squeezes my hand, shaking his head slowly, like he isn't pleased at something. For a moment, I think it is me, and I have to hold in an angered outburst before I start trouble.

"They want me to look at those boys." He tells me, eyes drifting off like remembering a fond memory, then he comes back to shake his head. "They want me to see how special they are, and to name them my heir before I die since I have no sons."

I chimed in, "You wanted me to get married and have a son with your great-nephew to keep the line pure and have an heir." The words taste sour in my mouth at the thought, and I feel him tug my hand harder, jerking me to look at him.

He stares in horror. "No, no...Well, yes, I did, except that..." He shakes his head quickly, sending himself into a coughing fit that leaves his gasping for breath, groaning at the pain he feels, and I jump to hold him steady.

"My apologies for getting you worked up."

He shakes his head, staring up at me. "I didn't see you, not the way I was supposed to, because I wanted a boy. But now I see you, and you can be everything I trained you to be."

It took me a few moments to realize what he was talking about, and then I did. He didn't need a boy, not a little boy still attached to his mother's bosom, when he had me, with all of my education that he's assigned, and all of my intelligence.

I open my mouth to protest, because maybe Kaguya could be clan leader and princess, but not me, I couldn't do it when he had older daughters and grandsons and granddaughters. He reads my mind, his eyes narrowed, and he digs his hand into my arm with his strong hands. "This is your duty, Kaguya. I've told the council and they've accepted it. I chose you. I don't want my daughters' husbands or their sons, because it would combine the clans. You are the perfect heir."

"I'm honored."

He gives a grim smile. "I once tried to bring about peace with love and compassion," He tells me sadly. "I was wrong. Kaguya, you must do whatever it takes to gain power if you want peace."

His pulls my face close into something close to a hug, and whispers into my ear. "When you are clan leader, go to the secondary house, into the third room." He tells me firmly, leaving no room to argue, and I nod obediently, before I am dismissed from this brief meeting.

 **..**

He dies on December 22nd, and my sisters wait anxiously, only to find out their baby sister is the heiress, and they are angry. They leave in a huff back with their husbands and kids, and I don't even get to say goodbye

Mother expects me to bring her to the clan and shower her with gifts, but I don't. I don't even respond back to her messages. I bring Ishii to my side as my advisor, and she teaches me still, even eleven years later, and we take the clan by storm. I wear the same outfits I had for years now, except now with the clan's symbol gracing my back as leader. They call me Kaguya-Hime, still as the Empire is in shambles, and we are still a clan will only followers. The Empress is also on my side as well, and she is still glowing in our win. She refers to me as her daughter, and says I have triumphed for Taketori, my sister.

They ease me into it, making me feel less overwhelmed. I am given his cold, stone office with a small fireplace, which means I have a place to seclude myself, and I stayed in there away from both the Empress and Ishii. I look outside my window, thinking for a moment if only Arashi could have only survived one more year. Just one more and I could have-

 _No, no! Stop thinking about him._

I shook my head, staring off into the distance in wonder on how in Kami's name I was going to do this, seeing as I was a girl from Minnesota, not a leader of any kind, and I wasn't cut out for this, but then again I'm better than any of my nephews at their young ages of...young. They were small and young, and I'm sure I can do better than them. I look over the scroll, rubbing my temples with the report I have received about the starvation amongst our allied clans, who will not be able to stand with us without supplies. We have enough money to send for them to trade it out for food, but not enough rations to send out. But if our weapon supply depletes, we'll need the extra wealth for that, and may not have enough. I groaned into my arms, curling into myself in my stress.

 _A few more years. A few more and we won't need weapons and allies. I have to wait for the fruit to grow..._

Standing to stretch, I looked outside my window to look at the secondary building made of darker stone, and I remembered my father's words. I yawned, deciding I needed a break just to see whatever it was in the third room. Hopefully, it was food or money or anything useful!

I exited the study, swiftly escaping before any guards or anyone saw me, because they always bombarded me with news and scrolls and messages, and I will not deal with that now. I slip outside, shivering from the cold of what I believe to be is January, and the snow is crushed softly under my shinobi sandals (I had them made for me, because bamboo sandals and silk don't work), and the warmth of the mostly empty building is welcomed.

I shake off the remaining snow, looking around for the nearest hallway, because this building is mostly for those of lower rank. I turn the hallway cautiously, because Ishii lives down here and as my advisor, she drags me back to the study-like room that has become my new home.

 _One. Two. Three._ I count, pointing towards the third door, but there is no light coming from the shoji door, so I walk closer, curious. I shove it open, and almost faint, because sitting in the darkness is a mop of crimson hair.

It's Asahi.

And he's missing a leg.


	4. Chapter 4

**_SMOKE_**

 **** **煙**

We stared at each other for a few moments, my heart beating madly, and I couldn't breathe because I am staring at a man who has been dead for almost two years, and I don't know how to comprehend this. He reaches for me, desperate when I move away to leave, betrayal pulsing through my veins.

"Kaguya-Hime, please-"

"Y-You're missing something." I joked shakily, still creeping out the door by the second, my eyes on the space where his left leg should be, and he moved to grab a piece of stone carved into the shade of a leg, the feet and ankle cut in and defined, and I stare at him in horror as he used soft, tough leather strips to strap it onto the nub that's left of his original leg, and he stands up shakily, taking a step forward as I take a step backwards. "You were supposed to be dead."

"You were supposed to be thirteen." He joked back, like he hadn't made me believe he was dead for so long, and I just kept trying to keep my heart working. "I guess we were both wrong." He uses the new leg like he's had months of practice, and perhaps he has, and I take a single step towards him, just for a better look at it. Most of the soldiers had wood for their prosthetic sand just pieces of cloth, but that is real leather and a nice, marble-like stone. It's the exact size of his real one, and I just stare at him because it's been almost five years since I've seen him, and it's been that long since he's seen me.

When I last saw him, he still had round cheeks and a voice that broke, and he still had that older brother feel to him, but this was different. His hair was ruffled and bright, and his cheeks were defined, with more of a chiseled face. He's taller than I am at least five inches, and I stared up at him, looking almost ashamed I was so short, and I glared up, conflicted about what I wanted to do. He was watching me like I was an alien (and if Naruto Wikipedia said anything about it, I become classified as one), because the last time he had seen me when I was an awkward, long-limbed thirteen year old whose skin was too pale and tangled hair.

I looked at his leg again, "How long have you been here?"

He wanted to say something, and then he looked away like he was ashamed. He was silent, and I took another step forward, "How long, Asahi?" I almost shouted; moving closer again and again, anger pulsing where the confusion had been.

Asahi looked at me, "I'm sorry."

"How long-"

"I didn't want to-"

"HOW LONG?"

"Since Ishii came back, Kaguya-Hime." He admits, and I paused, looking at the ground, my eyes darting from one place to another I thought about what Ishii said to me then.

 _"He's alive."_

It was then that I realized that she never had actually answered me if he was okay; she had told me he was alive, not okay. His leg is gone. A part of him is gone. A limb is no longer there. The thought didn't process through my mind the way it needed to, and I kept staring at him like he had just slapped my grandmother across her face, and I just gaped, not quite enraged or happy about his return. I was a swirl of emotions; a tornado of feelings that didn't stop or ever completely combine. "You didn't tell me for a year and a half?"

"I-"

" **I** thought you were _dead!_ "

He looked as guilty as a twenty four year old could, without just bursting out whatever he could in his defense, but I challenged his stance, but crossing my arms, glaring. "Well?"

Asahi didn't respond, and I don't think he wanted to, but he couldn't just tell me no because now I'm his leader now, even more so then when he would just protect me, and he doesn't have to now, because as his clan leader, I had to protect _him_. He took a soft breath, like he wanted to stop breathing.

"I saved your uncle." He explains, avoiding the question just like Ishii did when she lied, and I hate being treated like a child, like I didn't need to know this. "I got my leg half cut off when I dove in and it got infected, we had to cut if off in the field. They sent me back with Ishii, and Ōtsutsuki-sama had the imperial doctors tend to me to make sure I didn't die. I-I asked them not to inform you. I didn't want to worry you." The softness in his voice did little to sooth my anger, and in almost added air to the flames. I suppose the heat in my cheeks were out of anger, and I glared up at him, rising onto my tip toes.

"So letting me think you were dead was a better alternative?" I raged, clenching my fists, one pressed against his chest to prove a point. "I was upset! You _lied_ to me and Ishii did the same, and I trusted both of you!"

"Kaguya-hime, The Emperor has promised to tell you when he thought I was ready and obviously he thought I was prepared to go back to my duties as your protector-" He tried to sound cheerful about the situation or perhaps he just wanted my attention to stray to something happier. "H-He deserves our thanks and perhaps you can forgive both of u-"

"The Emperor is dead!" I shouted.

His face dropped, looking uncomfortable for a moment, and then looking apologetic, before settling on neutral. "I apologize. I didn't realize he has rejoined with the Sun Goddess. This means you are the-"

"Clan Leader, yes, and you get to tell me about why you didn't feel I wasn't important enough to tell you were injured. It wasn't like you've known me since I was born," I snarled, quietly and holding my head up like I was better than him, like I was something important and I am, because I'm the Princess and the clan leader and this betrayal was too much, so I waited for him to respond with a step backwards. I slid the rice paper door shut, so no one could watch this. He moved towards me, still staggering a little, but I couldn't even pity him at this point after what he and Ishii did (she would get it later, I will make sure she is dropped from her position), and he takes a deep breath.

"I wanted you to not seem me in weakness, Kaguya-Hime. I was supposed to protect you and I couldn't when I was lying in bed with a fever. I didn't want you to see me like that." He looked pained, looking at his false leg where his pants were still rolled up, and he shook his head. "I wasn't the same person, I was bitter at the world and you wouldn't have liked me. I was broken and I didn't want you to look down on me because of it."

That was enough to soften me up, just a little, and I paused, looking down at his leg too, then back at Asahi, taking his hand and swinging it. "I wouldn't have minded," I reiterated, "Because you would have been alive and I would have been happy."

Asahi ran a hand through his hair, "I wasn't alive. I was just there, I was surviving, but I wasn't alive. I was angry and upset and I just moped around there." He shut his eyes, like the world was too much. "The Emperor came to see me to thank me, and told me he would send for you. I think I woke up again, like my mind came back, and I begged him not to. I needed to learn how to survive again, to protect you again like I was supposed to. He got me this," He knocked the stone leg. "As a gift for my efforts, and told when he thought I was ready, he would tell you, Kaguya-Hime, and I wasn't aware he..."

I was quiet for a few moments, my anger turned into smoke, and I was just hurting myself at this point, so I nodded. "Alright." I told him.

"Alright?" He repeats, looking for more of an answer on my face.

"Alright."

I turn around and walk away.

 **煙**

The Empress is given a new name again, she is Gekkō now because she is no longer a wife, and she takes her role as Empress Dowager in stride, happy and content to avenger her daughter with my image on the throne. I go to her immediately whenever I have issues because she is wise beneath the panic-induced craziness, and she is happier than she has in ages. Her hair is glossy and her pales eyes have more a spark to them, and she wears plain clothing now like me. She wears kimonos while I continue the sleeveless kimono and silk pants, and we both wear our hair down plainly.

"So what do you plan on doing with these women?" The Empress- no, Gekkō asks with mild interest, looking over the list of women that my father had as his concubines, including my mother and Lady Murasaki. I glance over at her before skimming the lists of things that need to be fixed with in the clan written by the monks and eunuchs who oversee most of the smaller parts of our clan, and I rubbed my temples to avoid the headache coming to attack my mind.

"How many are there?"

"Thirty-eight, or so."

"You don't know?" My eyebrows rose, and she nodded, looking frustrated with everything, just like I was, and she looked out towards the small cut in the room where it was supposed to be a window. It was a rectangle, and I couldn't even fit my arm out of it, let alone use it for anything else. The fireplace crackled, when Gekkō spoke again.

"Some of them are worried they may have to be married off to someone else or had lovers; they ran off from the Palace of Women. There cannot be a correct estimate." She hummed, sipping tea out of a clay cup, except it wasn't something she feared like herbal tea or anything else, and I enjoyed her brews, despite hating tea. "I assume your mother is waiting for you to bring her in as the Honored Mother?"

I made a noise, thinking back to our last conversation, and then shook my head slowly. "I don't suppose she wants to see me, I did make her lose her son, or so she believes." I murmured, crossing my arms, as I sent down the scroll, and Gekkō frowned, setting down her cup next to my untouched one, and looked at me.

"You were sitting here just like you are now, besides, it was the husk all those things that burn. I tell all of them to never burn husk, it causes miscarriages, but they didn't listen. It will be fine, dear. You won't have to see her. All of you need to do is dismiss these women, let them marry who they want or stay there if they please." Gekkō advices, and I nod into my open hand, leaning over my to look at another few scrolls and scraps of delicate parchment, poorly written messages on it, because this world was illiterate and I couldn't quite help it yet, so I just sign in, putting it into my _I better deal with this crap_ pile, and looked over towards the window slit again, feeling someone staring, but I saw nothing, so I let it go, but the Empress Dowager didn't. She smirked, "You're boy is back again!"

"My boy?"

"That redhead, with the kind eyes that stands outside the window every day, since a few days ago. He peeks in every now and then, and I caught him." The woman tells me with a sparkle in her eyes, "I knew you would get suitors soon, but this soon? Astounding."

I glance towards the window again, contemplating my next move with my stalker, "Asahi? He's not a suitor." I look again towards the window, wondering if he heard me, but I get no response or movement, so I assume not. I huffed, glaring back down at the annoyingly large amount of parchment, and the familiar dread trying to figure out what in Kami's name Kaguya would do. Every single move I made, every breath I took, everything I did affected this world. It could be ripple effects or paradoxes, ruining things that didn't need to be ruined in the future. It was terrifying, because I was the one in charge. I could be anyone, but I was Kaguya and I could screw _everything_ up. "Do you ever think that maybe you weren't born to do something special and you got the part by accident?" I questioned the older woman to my left, who looked at me with strange eyes- no, not strange, almost calm and not even close to the crazy I've seen, but it looked wrong on her.

"Are you scared?"

"No, I'm not."

"I've placed upon your shoulders the peace of this world, and you aren't even upset? It is a huge burden to bear, and it isn't something to be taken lightly."

 _I'm only going to have two children and then let them seal me away until I get a chance to kill the reincarnation of my grandsons and then fail- I am gone. Sealed Away! I don't want to._

"I'm not scared; you said yourself this was my destiny."

"It is."

"Then I am not afraid."

The ex-Empress looks like she wants to say something else, like she wants to tell me that she knows I am afraid, that I don't want to be Kaguya if I really think about it, because I hurt everyone around me, including Asahi and my futures sons and grandsons and their reincarnations, and I don't want to do that. I don't want Zetsu to be my will, and I don't want to go to the elemental nations and live there and cause peace. I wanted someone else to take on the responsibility, and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted- needed- someone to tell me it would okay, because it wouldn't be, and I knew that very well.

The more I thought about it, the more I began to feel my stomach twist inside my stomach. I didn't want any of this, and I just wanted to be back where I belonged, back with my sister and my friends, and I wanted more than this. I wanted to be free from this.

But with every day that my life goes on, getting closer to when the Shinju will be ripe, I see my past life go up in smoke, and it is terrifying.

 **..**

I gradually become a better leader, Asahi coming back to my side, and I do my best in the few weeks to associate myself in the clan, but something kept tugging at the back of my head; it was dark and consuming and it told me it wasn't fair that _I_ had to be the one to do this, why did I have to bring _peace_ or whatever the hell it was that **they** wanted me to, because I didn't want-

Except I did, because I wanted them to love me and I wanted the bloodshed to stop and whatever it was in the back of my head was so very wrong, and it needed to be gone. It was my voice- _Kaguya's_ voice- seeping into my head whenever I thought too hard on Hagaromo and Hamura, or chakra.

 ** _I don't have to birth to them, they'll steal all of my chakra and seal me away. I don't have to love anyone. It isn't my duty to act like..._** The voice mused, and it was me thinking it, except it wasn't and I knew that it wasn't, but the voice echoed in my head obnoxiously whenever I had doubts, and it hurts. My head pounds, and I sink to my knees onto the white stained floor stones, half way to my office, and the voice is ringing, breaking down my head.

 _Shut up, no, no, I don't want to change the future. Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!_

 ** _Indra and Asura don't get to steal away what is ours, they and that little pink girl of theirs. They don't get to win. Not again, I can win! I can win again. We can-_**

 _-we?_

I groan against my arms, curling up into myself, trying desperate to tune out the world, looking at the cracks and crevices in the stone walls, and I know that no one will come find me, not until Asahi comes to check on me in the next hour, and I don't even want him near me because I can't handle being around people, because this voice in my head has claws, tearing it down my brain, almost as painfully as being crushed under a car, and it just hurts.

Laying on my side, the tears burn my eyes, running down my nose, and I realize that the times I felt myself be shoved away and faded out as I grew and thought more of the future, and now I realized why, because I was the New Kaguya and the nameless young woman I was before, but I also wasn't either, because I couldn't fully be one or the other. There was so little room for both in my head, and as more and more happened, it was to my utter horror that I realized _CANON Kaguya was pushing us both out of my head._

A flash of memory of getting sealed- a blinding feeling of having your entire entity being ripped out, then shoved in, and the process going at such a high speed, and it hurts, it hurts, and _stop stop stop stop._

I just started to scream.

 **煙**

For seven days, I stay inside my mundane chambers, the once brilliant mosaic tiles that shined with sunlight were dulled, and the silk curtains were drawn, so I lay in complete darkness, and I am no longer alert to the world around me, condemned to my mind, and I am afraid, so very afraid and lonely, and I cannot even tell Asahi, though she sits obediently by my side, holding my hand like I may become a bird and drift away in the winds of Time.

Pavilions, trees, scrolls all looked so dull in my eyes. If anything, they furthered my pains, they burned my eyes because I see them in my head in different angles, in different ways, and I see it through the eyes of the Kaguya of another time, one who does not exist in this timeline, only she does because her consciousness fights mine in a battle of wills that may cause me to crack, and I do not want to lose myself. I can no longer bear the burden of eating; everything tastes of sand, and I become lighter and lighter, so small I feel myself rise into the cloud like smoke, light and poisonous, and so much underappreciated. The world is gone into a familiar darkness, one that I had once experienced in death the first time, and I am no longer in the pain of no longer being a person of many lives, for I am dead. I stare into the abyss of darkness; the voices around me no longer mean anything to me. I am at peace in the silence, in the void of life fallen upon me, and perhaps I will be Kaguya again or perhaps I will be...

I shut my eyes peacefully, no longer needing my sight. I hear the softest calling of my name (was it Kaguya or did they say my other name?) in the tone of a man, and then the ice is thrown against me, the painful force of air being yanked into my chest as only a glimmer of light sparks. A wave of heat surged through my veins. I borne again by extraordinary force, one that I imagine is my soul being too stubborn to blacken from my body, because it once even too stubborn to die. I toss myself up into a sitting position, looking around in terror of the force that awaken me to the world again, and a soundless scream sits in my throat, firmly in place for a readily delivered shriek.

With wide eyes, I look over to my most loyal of friends, with Asahi soundly sleeping against the edge of my bed, the Empress in my silken chair, and Ishii on the floor around Gekkō's soft seating, and I am awakened for the first time in a week, because I have won.

Whether of my own madness or by some force, the Canon Kaguya was defeated by own will and that of a force unknown to me or to this world, and I am still on top of the mind battles, still Kaguya and a nameless modern girl, I am both and neither.

I am the perfect Yin and Yang of spirit, and while my own madness and threats loom, I need to save the world from my own early and earthly wrath that can be inflicted just to prevent Naruto and Sasuke's victory in a peace that hurts the _nursery_ that becomes this earth. I will be the savior of my own time, but I will not be a willing villain. She doesn't get to- I don't get to have my way, because I am Kaguya and she is Kaguya, but I am also someone else and I cannot allow her to hurt me. **_She_** will remain in my deepest pits of sanity, away from my mind and thoughts, because I want more and will be more, but now with her invading my mind.

I need to be more than a villains thrown in for the dramas that couldn't be produced by Madara Uchiha, which was the main reason for such a horrible, wicked, and vile woman to be born into this world, to be born to a family where her insanity is almost hereditary and power-basis is encouraged.

I won now, and I must win again if darkness swirls around my thoughts again in such a violating and horrific manner.

It will be terrible, but Peace has not cost too high, and even _I_ know that with broken mind, and tired bones.

 **煙**

 ** _A/N:_** _I have been plagiarized by a girl with nothing better to do that steal the hard works of others, and I am sickened to see such things, and this author (more like account) is called Seishun Kyousoukyou and I didn't want to use names, but they have also stolen from an author of whom I am very fond, and finds us to be unfair in our assumptions. If anything is every published, I advise you to read and then check your own, because it could be copied. Also, this may be my last post for some time, because I have had a particularly bad seizure, and I am always tired. I will update when I can._

 _Enjoy and Review, I know it's confusing, or more "filler" but you will understand later (okay, so Asahi is kind of filler), but please bear with me._


	5. Chapter 5

**_FLAMES_**

 **炎**

 **Kaguya knew for a fact that she would have to drag herself out of the deepest pits of Hell or wherever it was that she would land with that final, desperate, and almost tangible burst of chakra to send her flying into where ever she would go, and it wasn't particularly her plan to get trapped inside a tiny cage, away from the world where her disappointed lay, and sealed away so her plans would never be realized again, not now anyway. The pink haired she-devil had to nerve to destroy one of her horns, and it was then that the Princess realized the situation at had must have been to dire, especially as the transformation began alongside that of the Demonic Statue that wanted desperately to get her back inside, and perhaps it was the targeting of the chakra that made her escape possibly, and with her last bit of energy, her entity abandoned the chakra and mortality of her body.**

 **She wasn't thinking, admittedly, because of her desperateness, and perhaps her thoughts had once been on the ripples and destruction that can be caused by such a foolish decision to tear through the dimensions, bouncing around the realms, breaking and destroying and causing randomized effects that were out of her range of control, and she did achieve what she wanted. Kaguya had landed into another dimension entirely, enough to get in the middle of a bright light and piercing honking noises, and she was approached by metal monster, when it swerved away from her and someone screamed, and it was because of this that the young woman with red hair was hit by the noisy, unnatural metal device, her blood splattering around her, while another came flying, and had she had chakra, the princess may have destroyed the hideous contraptions with their mind-desecrating noise and smoke and the auburn girl disappeared into the wreckage of whatever it was, and she began to turn into a malleable force again, her bouncing around not finished to her utter annoyance, and she didn't even realize that she had taken a passenger with her when she shot off into another world again- her world, but in a time that she had wanted to land in, her past, the one thing she could change. The Rabbit Goddess was strangely,** ** _not in her body_** **when she came to after the stressful experience.**

 **She had screamed in utter rage into the void of a consciousness that had her locked away, the whiteness and blackness not combining into a grey, instead she was constantly pulled into the light and dark, neither ever touching the other. In the light, she found a cold, happiness that settled in her bones and made the imprisonment seem bearable. She saw into the mind of a child with dreams and was of a world different from this one, and it was almost as emotionally pleasing as seeing her two sons, before she was called back to the impending dark side, where she saw into the world of her own, seeing her own history repeat itself and it was that young woman- the petty, dying girl whose blood stained the hard, rock ground crimson, and it was she who stole away Kaguya's body, adopting it as her own and it made Kaguya rage until she was pulled back into the white prison, where everything was simpler and happy.**

 **For years and years, it remained this way, her emotions constantly fueled by the thought patterns of both side of the same soul, and it infuriated her to know end to be defeated, then skillfully cunning enough to escape only to be trapped again! AGAIN! It was only as time grew on and the mindscape of this once other-realm dwelling girl began to dissolve into a bitter grey- a world of cloud before a storm of rain, to prove that the minds were merging into one, and Kaguya saw her chance to strike, the push out what wasn't the other woman's to take, and she shoved hard, clawing her way out inch by inch, going into her head to destroy and shred her mind into grains of sand as a means to reclaim her place in HER body, but it was a slow process without her chakra to boost her spiritually, and the little she had remaining was to be saved for more of a dire time, if only to keep her ready for the impending bite of the Shinju that would come in the near future.**

 **Kaguya plotted and planned whenever she could stay out of the areas of pure white in the girl's mind that didn't corrupt her, and everything in this world would be different, perfect this time around, because only SHE got the Shinju, and only she would rule as Goddess and only she got chakra. Her sons would be the only thing she missed, if only slightly, and they would be replaced by the warmth of the powers she would get. She would wipe her lovely nursery clean of the wretches of the human race that destroyed it with the blood of each other, and it would be in best interest to desecrate this mortal child who dared steal away her head, though it would take time and effort, and the wench fought back with every once she had, screaming at her in desperation when Kaguya gave beautiful plans to her over the connection they shared, but the formerly auburn girl shot they back with different thoughts of a peaceful world, and** _shut up, shut up, shut up,_ **which wasn't something she particularly wanted to hear from her lesser, a woman stealing her body and she wanted to rip her apart, so she took her chance and dove desperate for control of the body, leaving them in a wrestle for control over the consciousness, resulting in the engulfment of both of them into a numbness, and perhaps that was where Kaguya made her mistake, all of her desperation and fury combining into one thoughtless move- the same kind that got the other girl killed and caused this mess- that set off the remaining acts of Fūinjutsu from her former resealing, and it ate away at the last bits of her remaining chakra before Kaguya could fight it, and she cursed the very being of the souls of her sons and her grandsons and their reincarnations, and everything because she was the only savior of the world from this wretched humanity.**

 **The pieces of the seals had attached themselves to the edges of her spirit, and she hadn't shed it all during the escape and destruction of her chakra and former body, and it was taken away, stealing away her victory. The chakra it stole forcefully sealed her away, so she is forced to release the tight grip on the invader of her body, and is sealed to the back of her consciousness, no longer able to break the seal with no chakra to fight on with.**

 **Kaguya is bitter, for it is a fact that if it wasn't for the seals, she would have ripped the young woman to shreds, and fulfilled her duties as the Goddess and savior of this beautiful world.**

 **Why lucked favored the wench, she would never know.**

 **炎**

I kept a close lock on myself after the incident, and so did the others, and we lied about the incident to my people; I was privately conducting an important matter is what was said. I wasn't having a mental breakdown, and I didn't doubt my own sanity. I grew to enjoy the company of my clan, keeping them close and at an arm's length because I didn't want to hurt them nor did I want them to find me as aloof as my mother did to me, and I was acknowledged as their princess and leader, and I was doing well as far as I could tell. Our enemies quieted down, until even I believed them gone, and on the celebration of my twenty first birthday, we waited anxiously for the attack that would never come, because after my late father' s last victory, he killed most of their men, and I thought them to be afraid, so I was leisurely prepared, and that's where this lead's me, laying sprawled on my bed after a bath of scented water and sakura petals, reading a scroll and taking my time instead of vigorously at my desks scrounging for allies and supplies and weapons, and Gekkō is by my side reading from her place in the wood chair, telling me of the days ahead with all of her careful planning on the Aki Festival, which I suppose is the predecessor to the Rinne Festival in later days, or at least is created to be devoted to the gods of whoever it is we worship, and I do not feel too obliged to waste resources on a little celebrations, but even stone-cold Asahi gave a grin at the thought, so I rolled my eyes at her babbles, because I told her to plan it, not tell me.

"-which will encourage the warriors if an attack does arisen, it will give them hope that they have won enough battles for them to celebrate." The Empress Dowager finished her monologue to convince me, though I was won over by the thought of Asahi having fun, because he was still stiff and dutiful and it was almost annoying how loyal he was to me, watching my every movement like I was still the delicate thirteen year old who needed protecting, and I wasn't- not anymore, not like I was. He was worried, and I was too because I didn't want to be anything like _them_ , the crazies of the family. Even Gekkō, who is my greatest asset, and I am fearful of exactly what that little voice is that whispers in my ears, but cannot fight me again like before. I pin my hair up after shaking out the wetness, and I look over at her, with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you sure this is the best idea? If they attack-"

"They won't." The former Empress promises, taking my hand, and I can't help the uncomfortableness of the situation. I wasn't a very social person and it was slightly embarrassing to rely so heavily on others, for planning an advice. "They have been silent..." She pauses as a loud noise like a the ungodly shriek of a god comes flying all around us, and I bolt up towards the archer's window with the Empress by my heels, and I peek out expecting to see a terrible version of Hell, but there isn't anything outside that shouldn't be except a bright light that was very similar to a firework that I gaped at it for a moment, while the Dowager Empress looked unimpressed by the whole event.

"They're practicing. This portion of the clan is poor." She tells me, not quite upset by the explosion as I was, and I watched on as another one got shot up, the explosion shaking the stone house in a terrific shake, and I jumped. "They still use bamboo covering, you know, for the fireworks." She motioned towards the ongoing explosions, and I nodded my head numbly. "They were made by setting bamboo on fire and tossing them in the air for explosions- did you know bamboo exploded- well, no matter, they do. They started using different powders and oils."

"Oh." I avowed, looking away from them, like they were nothing, because they were. I had seen thousands upon thousands of them every Fourth of July, because we shot off our own and we went to large events at our Church- some God there is now, sending me here- where we saw lots of them, my sisters and brother and I, which was a beautiful feelings, except these weren't the same.

Gekkō's face softened, like she understood the entire world, and her wrinkle became more prominent when she frowned. How old is she again? "You did grow up in the Palace of Women," She admonished, nodding her head. "And there wasn't much to celebrate in the Emperor's Palace; it is no wonder that you haven't seen them, dear."

"That _does_ explain it."

If she caught the sarcastic tone in my voice, then she didn't comment just switched topics as quickly as she has always done. "I heard your mother is getting married soon," She mentions offhandedly, like it was the same as saying the barber was cutting someone's hair, and I raised an eyebrow at her inquisitively.

"So?"

" _So_?" She repeats, offended. "The woman who gave your life to you is remarrying, is finding her own happiness without so much as inviting you to her ceremony and you just decided now would be a lovely time to stroll through your kingdom."

"It was _your_ idea."

"Yes." Gekkō agrees, "But you went along with it."

"I'm also going along with the idea of jumping realms to eat a fruit born of blood. Am I not supposed to?"

Gekkō gives me a pointed stare, like I was a disappointment to her by being so stubborn in my ways, and I wanted nothing more than to find Asahi and order him to cut her pretty little head off, because the stare was more intense than anything I have ever been through. I have to say, I'm mildly impressed.

"You are, by far, the most difficult child I have ever had the _joy_ of watching grow, and I know for a fact travelling in a litter is a burden to you. But you chose to sit in one for hours?" She scoffed. "I am not as foolish as I seem, perhaps a little mad, but not foolish."

"I don't care one way or another."

I honestly didn't, but my inner teenage hormones roared in anger that I wasn't invited to the wedding period, because I was also her daughter and all- _but no, please daughter of mine, don't come to my perfect wedding to your general._ Admittedly, I did replace that lovely general with Asahi out of a temper tantrum, but he was old anyway. They can have each other, all old in their thirties and bitter because I didn't like either of them. Please, I didn't need my mommy for any of this, I didn't like her anyway, but she could at least invite me to her wedding! I had to approve the proposal and everything and she didn't even-

"Come on." She tossed my cloak at me, and it hit me on my face, and I mildly thought that Asahi might even enjoy slitting her throat, because she did this more often than she should, and the last time she bruised my face with my bamboo sandals.

"We are we going?" I wondered, angrily pulling on the cloak: she hit me in the face with it!

"To see your people, your clan: did you even meet the mayor of this clan territory? Stop pouting and let's live a little. We won't even tell your red haired beau so he won't spoil the fun with security. Do not act as an infant, let's go."

For a mad woman, she was hell of a good convincer.

 **..**

It isn't exactly a palace or grand city, but I like it more than I did the other place. Everything is a thick stone material with the most lovely of mundane and simple lives and designs, and I was more pleased with it, chatting away with the mayor. He was a plump man who never did need to wonder if he would be hungry, a bald, shiny head, and painted with white geisha-like paints, and a tunic of a dark yellow with prayer beads wrapped around him in what I suppose is a saintly matter.

"We are honored you chose our little village to visit," The joyous man chirped, waving his arms around excitedly as he spoke. "The fireworks tonight will be lovely, and if you would like to stroll around, you will be pleased to find our people very appreciative of your presence."

The Empress smiled, "I'm sure it will be." She answered for me, and then gave me a glance. "We will be off; I heard of the beautiful paper fans of this village, I wish to view them. Perhaps you would enjoy them, too." I nodded my head at her words, and we departed quickly from the man who I wasn't quite sure about, because under that sugary sweet voice, there was a hidden acid and it wasn't only I who heard it. The ex-Empress rolled her eyes, pulling up her kimono to tuck it into her obi like I did in my youth, and I almost smirked, strolling around in my pants smugly.

"I can feel your arrogance from here, dear."

"I'm sorry."

 _I'm really not._

"No, you are not."

I took a step forward, before I heard an angered shout, and we whirled around to see that plump mayor yelling at someone, tripping and stumbling. The ex-Empress laughed, different than she did before, and for the first time in the four years since I became leader, I started to laugh just as hard, and we looked like a bunch of idiots over a lack of a joke, but there was something funny about just walking around and doing nothing, and that mayor was so jiggly, and his double chin looked like another face. She seemed to know it too, and we kept giggling like fools, and it carried on until something tugged on the end of my dress. I paused, my face red and without air, and I looked down quickly to see a short young girl staring at me like I was the Sun itself, her face slack in her shock, and I smiled down at her, while the Empress giggled like a little girl next to me, and she gaped up at me with her pretty pale eyes.

"Are you _the princess_?"

"I suppose I am." I agreed, and bent down onto the girl's level. She was adorable, looking the part of a true blooded Ōtsutsuki with her wide, pale eyes, greyish pale skin, and light blond hair in brilliant curls, looking almost like me in my younger years, except her features were less defined, with commoner hints all over and her eyes were white instead of lavender. She beamed, bobbing down into a bow before she bounced up, jerking out a half-crushed flower from the inside of her robes, and I gave her a heartfelt smile.

"Is that for me?"

The nameless girl nodded. "The other girls said you were coming, but I didn't think so, because you were a princess and busy, but you did!" She said cheerfully, thrusting the flower into my hands, and I held the wild lily carefully, despite the bend petals and the roots still hanging off end of the stem, persistent to live on, despite her plucking of it from its home. "I told them if you did, I would give Your Highness a gift because they were too scared to!"

"I thank you," I gave her a mock bow that the eight years old (is she that old?) took with real dignity and grace, her face a giant grin, and she leaned down to bow just as elegantly as I did, but her stance was off and I laughed at her attempts to do so like I did, and she laughed with me.

"Your welcome, Kaguya-sama." She chirps, like a good little girl, then turns to give these other young ladies who stood behind the stone panels of the wall a Cheshire grin, and I had to give her attitude a thumbs up, because she had some spirit compared to those other girls, who flew behind the wall again, acting like they were well hidden, and I grinned down at her.

"Here," I took off one of my jade necklace (you would be amazed how much jade is worth here and how much I have). "Go show it off, for being brave to face an evil old witch-princess as myself." I bellowed dramatically, having more fun with this kid than I'd had for a while, winking at the wall if the others were watching and the Empress snorted, muttering under her breath about _boneless little girls_ and _you are that scary_. I kindly pretended not to hear it.

"You're not, though!" The little girl said, breathless. "You're so pretty. And my Papa said that you were a much better clan leader than all the others, Kaguya-sama!" She paused, considering her answer carefully, before she continued. "You are a bit old, though."

The Empress lost it again, clutching her chest, while tears began to prickle at her eyes, and I rolled my own eyes at her, keeping my face neutral towards the little girl, but kept my eyes narrowed in a glare that could rival Asahi's on a good day, and she stared back smugly.

"Thank you, Miss..."

"Karune Ōtsutsuki, ma'am." She replies quickly, fingering the jade circle in her hands, then looked at me like I was the son again, and seeing as how weird these traditions were, I wouldn't be surprised if she honestly thought I was the Daughter of the Sun Goddess or something weird like that. I wouldn't put it past them to spread a rumor that I was like Kim-Jong Un or someone like that, with all their weirdness of not being able to use the restroom or sleep, and I most certainly not immortal or made of the sun.

There was another explosion when I moved, so strong that it sent Karune flying to the ground, and I shot out to catch her and the ailing Empress.

I looked up, expecting to see a familiar light show, because they had been practicing the fireworks all day, except the skies were empty besides a deep smoke that I know shouldn't be there; although, my newly placed fears burst out when battle cries ripped out from around the area, and I realized what was going on when terrified shrieks ripped out around me.

"Fuck!" I yank on the arm of the little girl near me, and then turn towards the Empress, waving my free hand around, trying to figure out where my guards were, the cries of anguished pain and battle cries sounding outside. "Stay here, lock the door! Wait for me to come back!" I ordered the Empress, rushing out when I managed to shove her into a random home or shop (whatever it was), running so quickly down side of the hill that I seemingly flied down the stone stairs, trying not to fall, and desperate to get down into the battle, even if I was weaponless and not dressed suitably for this.

I heard the cries and the walls of the town were stained red when I made it outside of the central walls, painting the fresh leaves of autumn a deeper red than anything before, and I gasped in horror as the two armies battled. Desperately, I looked around the carnage and grabbed at a dagger that laid in the leaves, stained with the wet blood of my clansmen or our enemies, and I kicked off the useless shoes I had wasted so much time walk around in alongside my restraining cloak, and ran out into the deafening roar of the battle, men clashing against metal, and it was terrifying.

Limbs and blood and disgustingly enough corpses littered the ground, staining my feet as I clamored around to find Asahi in the midst of the fight, moving around the fighting that is taking place, running blindly as I do so, desperate to find him or Ishii, just to have them help me to figure out what to do as leader. Arrows whizzed past my ears, and I flinched at the nick in my lower neck from on stray arrow with my own clan emblem attached to it. I cursed when I realized when that we hadn't even considerably told Asahi or Ishii where in God's name we were going, and they were probably as lost as me.

Someone let out a loud, relieved cry of half-happiness. "Kaguya-sama!" Then suddenly the entire battlefield turned to me, cheering like _I_ , the barely trained, poorly armed clan leader, would save them, and if I had chakra, then I probably would have, but so far it wasn't looking good for any of us, and I ran through them as the enemies dove at me, their swords clashing against the weapons of my clansmen who tossed themselves in front of me, and the metallic taste of blood gagged me when it splashed against my lips, and I wasn't sure who it was from. My army was engaged in intense combat all over if I could see correctly, but I was choking on the scent of death, and my head was spinning. Their swords glistened with blood, their chests heaving from the lack of oxygen that they could in take when every second counted against them, and their eyes glistened with the desperation to live- not to win, but to survive with their some of their limbs still intact, which was a rare occurrence in this life.

Someone screamed in my ear, and I shrieked when I felt cold steel on my arm, slashing what was left of the sleeve of my robe since the arrows started pouring around us like water, and I whirled around with the dagger and just stabbed, ignoring the feeling of my hand sinking into flesh, and I felt sick- too sick to even think about what I did before I yanked out the bloody weapon from the mass of bleeding flesh. I didn't see any civilians, which was a good thing, but I couldn't fathom the idea that anyone would attack us, and I needed to help my warriors, needed desperately to save them, because I was _attached. I liked them_ , because I was their leader and I was their protector and we needed a plan, any plan so I had to find my general in the midst of Hell.

My hands were covered in the thick, crimson liquid so vital to life, and I was forced to my knees in disgust, heaving and throwing up the contents of my stomach, because I killed someone, and I didn't want to, but I had to do it. I had to do it.

I forced myself up, standing on shaky legs, trying to keep running into battlegrounds. "Asahi!" I shrieked, cutting down another man who ran at me like he was made of warm butter, and I shuddered at the thought that I was taking lives, but they were attacking my new home; this part of my kingdom, and I would be damned if I let this happen, and I let out my own battle cry when I stormed through the mess of warriors, and slashed at them with my dagger, the silk of my dress coming apart every time they managed to get close enough to cut me.

When I managed to get deep enough into the field of blood and corpses, a hand shot out and grabbed me, yanking me close and I looked up to see Asahi's tired face, looking weary of this. "They must have followed us from our last stop," He looked at me, and then reached out to touch my neck and arms. "Shit, they cut you."

The last time my adrenaline was pumping like this was only a lifetime ago, around the time a car swerved around nothing and all I saw her two pairs of headlights, and even then it didn't compare to this feeling of numb fear, where I couldn't even feel the sting or bite of metal against my flesh. "It doesn't matter, who is it?" He pushed me down against the ground when arrows flew, and used his body as a human shield against my own, looking around as dangerously as any soldier could when faced with such a battle.

"We need to sneak you out." He tells me not so calmly, shaking me to get my attention off of the blood dripping down my face that clearly didn't belong to me, but that didn't seem to matter at this bloody point, and I shook him off.

"I need to stay here with them." I insist, trying to get him off of me with my lack of muscular strength, but he was persistent in his efforts as a body guard, blocking arrows and knives with his sword, while I remained under him with a dagger and no way to use it with my best friend on top of me. He moves quickly, jumping up, still keeping me pressed against him.

"You _need_ to stay alive. If I don't get you out of here, I fail. I fail my blood oath, and I fail my promise," He tugs me away, just keeps running, and I'm not strong enough to fight, and we both know that, but I yank against him as hard as I can, "If you die," He continues. "This clan falls. You have six nephews; who gets the clan?" He pushes me out of the way of the rounded end of a weapon I can't even name, but it is long and stick-like, and I am not getting stabbed by it. I squirm around, dropping the dagger as we rush away.

"Stop! I'm leader; I command you! I need to help them!"

He stops dead in his tracks at my outburst, my desperate, loud outburst that is conveyed with every emotion of love I feel for this clan, and for a moment, I think, I just think that he might listen to me and acknowledge me as more than just a child or a face. I think he may respect me and let go of his stupid ideas of needing protect me, and just let me defend my people and him, even if it kills me, but that was more of just a stupid idea on my part as much as it was on his.

I don't remember what happens next after he lets me go, but I feel a sharp pain in my neck, and I just have to think of how exceedingly stupid I am.

 **炎**

The aftermath was terrifyingly calm, and I was more pissed off at the world than anything else, and when I had woken up, the battle was over and I was labeled a coward by the opposing side for not standing with my men, and I felt like one too. Asahi was calm; he stood by me when I started to treat wounds, even tending the children with games and songs, just to make them feel good. I wasn't a doctor, but it wasn't hard to wrap wounds and pour alcohol as a disinfectant for the best chance of survival for them.

We had won, amazingly enough to a 10:1 ratio, killing at least ninety percent of their battle force, while we walked out with a mere fifteen percent dead and wounded, though that didn't include civilian casualties, but I was told those were unavoidable, but they should have been, and I knew that. Asahi tried to talk to me when I found out the Empress had died, that she didn't listen to me and ran out to avenge her daughter, but I sent him away from my sights, anger fueling me while I interrogated my other generals for more details about the body and what happened.

Temujin was the name of my opposing clan leader, and I frowned at the thought of him with his Chinese-like name, but then again there was a Rock Lee and Tenten, so names weren't the problem, his blood lust was, and I was steaming mad, ready to destroy and cut and slash until no one else wanted to fight because this was a bloody hell.

"Kaguya."

I looked up at the Asahi like he wasn't even there, and he looked out at the wounded, then back at me, and he pulled the worn scroll out of his haori sleeve, tossing it to me without a second thought about it, "She gave it to me." He tells me, "Gekkō-sama and I took it back a few years ago; we decided it was too stressful at the time, but it looks like we don't have much more time. A week or so until the Shinju grows, and perhaps the Late Empress's blood is mixed in with the fruit."

I don't say much, because there is a lot on my mind, but I realize something about grief, it is a terrible feeling, but you need it to strength your resolve, and I figured out a plan in my head, a brilliant _fuck you_ to the universe because of what happened, and it was my own internal rage that sent me into fits because I don't give one single care about what happens to the Naruto Universe, seeing as it killed off Gekkō. She was a person, not a filler character that could be killed off when her usefulness was gone, because she was more than that, and it was in that that I realized how cruel it was for Kishimoto to just make people to die, and why should I have to keep this sick little thought that I should protect his world when he killed off mine, even if it wasn't even his real doing, or anything he could control, but maybe it was because he made me. He did this, or at least the world he made did, and I'm not going to let this destiny of mine control me, just like the Empress didn't let anything control her, and I wouldn't ruin her memory.

"Asahi," I said, standing, trying my hardest not to cry. "We...we need to go. We have to go eat that fruit and stop things, okay?" I smiled at him, a weak and angry smile all at once, and he wanted to argue, he did, I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to tell me it was my destiny, my descent into a God, but I won't accept that, and he doesn't say anything else about that.

Maybe one person eating the fruit will make you go crazy, but two might just be enough to screw up this entire world and toss the plot out of a six story window and let it die with Gekkō, and I am planning being there to watch it all go to flames.

In a non-evil way, because come on, do I look like Kaguya to you?

 _Oh...Wait..._ _Nobody_ _answer that._


	6. Chapter 6

**_BLAZE_**

 **焔**

The world outside my palace was strange, it wasn't the grandeur I was used to, but the world outside of my clan and lands, they were almost maddening, because I had spent twenty three years of my life surrounded my gold and silks, and it was barren of the life I had been so accustomed to. It was cold in this world where Temujin reigned, alongside the Okina clan that my mother was once princess of herself, and the powerful Mitsuki Clan, with their almost disgustingly powerful hold on their people's wealth. We stayed in the guest huts in the villages we passed when night fell, then rose earlier in the morning, so no one had a true idea of who we were, or even what we looked like.

It was always cold in this land, the wind blowing in like a funeral song, so mournful of these starving people. Most of the villages consisted of wooden fences, within were small huts of dried weavings and animal skins, not even a bit of stone to it, and around were only very small patches of scrubby grass for their cattle to graze on. Some of my clan was poorer districts, but even with their poor fortunes, architecture reigned, with villages made entirely of carved stone in elaborate deigns, and even the poorest of citizens were well off compared to these poor people. There were no mirrors, no perfumes, not silk screens, no calligraphy, no laughter; it was like they were dead while alive. There was barely anything to eat, no wines or meat because they needed milk and cheese, and couldn't afford to kill of their livestock. Rice and bread were stale and hard. The colors were wan, dark blues, greys, and some tans made of rough wool, and I looked severely out of place in my silks that I had to wear the scratchy fabric in the form of a cloak to hide the fineness, and even then, it was dangerous for me. My hair and skin were too soft from my upbringings, my skin pale from my time indoors, and my eyebrows were plucked. I screamed money and wealth, and if anyone heard I was here then they could profit from my capture.

I never gave much thought as to how this whole process would work with the Shinju, just that I would go get it and eat it and then I would be godly. It never occurred to me- no, I just never _wanted_ to think of the journey it would take to get to the entrance into the Elemental Nation that would lead me towards the Divine Tree, then again never did I think I would take Asahi with me, and I certainly didn't want to imagine the difficulty it would take to get away from the clan to achieve my goal. It had taken convincing and promises of peace and jade and grain before I could escape the stresses of the clan, and I left my closest friend in charge (Ishii was close, but she would never be the Empress), and we left in secret of where we were going, even from those who deserved to know, such as the one in charge herself. This was taboo in our clan and in the other world, and we knew that, but Asahi would follow me to my old world if I asked him to, which was an advantage, I supposed, but it was also a thorn in my side because I never know what _he_ wants. My every opinion was matched by his own, every thought I had whether it was crazy or idiotic was agreed upon with him, like I was his only thought.

"Here," He tucked the leather satchel into my hands, the one containing the scroll written by the blind monk from the other world, and I slid into under my cloak, hiding it from sight, while he collected his weapons up, strapping them back onto his person with skill. Our small stop hadn't been more than perhaps ten minutes, but it had been enough time to eat a small lunch, then hurry on, because our time was limited and we had to hurry on towards the Konran no Mizūmi, which was hopefully an entrance into the other world, but of course, the doubts whirling around my head were great enough to get me to hesitate in my journey. If CANON-Kaguya had managed with her lack of knowledge about this world, then obviously there was away, I had just yet to believe it.

I tugged at my hood, sliding it over my loose bun, and waited for him to finish, yet I looked back down the path towards the village, feeling of pity and humanitarian sentiments whirling around in my chest at the idea of those in the poor districts. Asahi took his place besides me, staring at the horizon of the valley.

"Feeling sentimental?"

"Not quite." I blew a strand from my face, "I can't explain. I feel pity for them."

"Pity never suited you,"

"And being mean never suited you. You don't want to help them?"

"Not quite." He mimicked, but there was something layered under the defensive line of mockery. I sighed, shaking my head, dropping the subject. The children were already old, have gotten long used to the foul stench of the latrines, the skin and bones feel of starvation, even the candles that smoked a terrible, choking scent. Of course, Asahi had to bring the topic back with his quiet lisp of, "What can _we_ do?"

"Plenty," I remarked. "We could always come back; share our wealth with them, if just to give them something to live for." I turned my eyes towards the man I had known my entire life. "There's more to life than just...this."

"These aren't our people."

"They don't have to be; kindness cares for everyone."

Asahi doesn't say anything else about it, but there is a silent smile creeping onto his lips as he stares at the ground, eyes lighter, like I had just passed some test or exam, or I had just figured out the cure to sicknesses. We traveled down into the wooded areas, avoiding the bamboo forests entirely, because those were the dangerous parts of the world, seeing how well guarded they are, and we can't be caught in them. "How far until we reach the Mountain?" I questioned, and my faithful guard took his place by my side, flanking me in case of danger. He had more knowledge of the geography than I did when it came to these lands, especially because of his years in the military and his father's insistence on learning.

"Half a day, if we're lucky. We need move quickly, I've heard rumors of former samurai turned robbers lurking around. This is old Ringo territory, their military were brutal." He spoke urgently. "I don't want confrontation if possible, you haven't seen the cruelty of samurai yet, and I'd like to keep it that way. They'll kidnap you for no good reason, rob you, maybe worse, and then kill you." I ignored the way his hand inched over towards mine, like he ignored the fact I interlocked my finger into his, and we held hands as we walked. I liked to do that, like to have hugs and touch hands, because for eighteen years, I had no such luxuries like touch. I was too high ranked for him to do more than nudge my shoulder and we did that for years. The only ones who could touch me were my mother and the Empress, and neither one of them were too big on hugs and kisses, more reserved than you would think with their lack of maternal feelings.

"Concerned for my safety?" I teased lightly, if just to lighten the situation. "I'd say I would be fine with these old samurai; you did see what I could do with a dagger." I raised an eyebrow at the man, who rolled his eyes at me, and I mimicked swinging a knife with my free hand, thrusting it into an invisible man's abdomen. He signed, pressing his other hand into his bright tomato red hair, and shook his head slowly. Once, twice, three times while I looked on as innocently as possible, ignoring his inner battle to make a sarcastic comment or just let me do what I pleased without comment. He let out another sign, squeezing my hand lightly.

"Your spirit was endearing when you were younger." He murmured, "Now, it'll end with my heart giving out from stress when you rush into a fight with the most savage of warriors."

"I wouldn't provoke them,"

"No," He agreed slowly, mulling over it for a moment. "Kaguya, when it comes down to fighting or surviving, you would choose to fight any day and I would be left the position of forlorn _wife_ , waiting to see if you come back with all of your pieces." The grin on his lips was enough to get me smiling to, looking at his lack of leg, then back at him as we both got the reference. I kicked his fake leg with the edge of my shinobi sandal, and he moved away, half leaping over a fallen tree, while I struggled.

It took some doing, but I managed to get my skirts over the log that was in our way without having to let go of his calloused hand, and I could see over the lines of tree that the mountain we were seeking out wasn't as far as I assumed, because it looked bigger than before, and we were closer. I turned my attention back to him, "Wife? I'm going to pretend you didn't say that just to prove a point that wives are more emotional than husbands. Besides I played that part when you off fighting with Ishii. You're a grown man, you'll survive."

Asahi gave me an almost affectionate stare, mocking cocking his head with a lover's pout, and I had to fight off the strong urge to roll my eyes at the idiot from doing whatever we was doing. "You were my wife?" He said, surprised, his eyes widen. "Did I miss the ceremony?" His expression changed into mock sadness, shaking his head. "War does that to people, making them miss their own wedding." For a grown man, he was sweet as could be and a good actor if anyone could say anything about it.

"It was a lovely ceremony." I probed. "I had some new eunuch as a proxy for you since you were and I didn't get an actual dress since you weren't there, but those details are for lesser people." I waved it off with a flick of my wrist, "He did a good job of standing in for you. Like I said, beautiful ceremony, and you didn't even attend. Shame, though, I'm not even sure if that man was a eunuch or just some random man walking by when I was trying for a marriage." I hummed ponderously, but he squeezed my hand even harder at my lies, and obviously I wasn't going well at lying, but he was grinning all the same, so he was amused.

Asahi gave me that same kind smile he always did, "The real one will be better." The joking undertone wasn't there like it was with the rest of our conversation, and I couldn't tell if he was being serious or joking, so I kept on with my teasing.

I shot him a halfhearted grin, "Here I thought your heart belonged to Ishii." I joked. "Are you proposing, Morning Sun?" It wasn't often I called him that, mostly when I was younger and I figured out what his name meant, and I would make fun of how it fit with his vibrant hair coloring, but in such a situation, it made it easier to rub it off as a jest.

He stared at me with those dark eyes, the ones I couldn't properly read on if this was going to be one of those embarrassing jokes he would tell Ishii later or if this was real. "That depends on if you'll say _yes_."

I rolled my eyes, opening my mouth when something exploded. I identified it as the familiar sound of bamboo on fire, the smoke filling the hollows until it made a loud pop, and we both went for the weapons we carried. Asahi moved to yank me away when the sound of hooves slamming against the ground knocked him over, and my dagger was tossed out of my hand when I tumbled to me knees.

"Robbers, get out of the way." I heard him shout to me, and the skill it would take for this kind of trap meant ex-samurai. I tried to stand, just as two men swarmed around Asahi, and right when I did someone yanked onto my arm so hard it hurt, and I felt my muscles burn as I was tugged onto the horse, someone holding onto my waist, and it hurt when my head slammed into the side of the beast.

"Kaguya!" I heard his furious scream, but I couldn't do anything to fight against the heavy arms around me, I was helpless.

I think that was the worst part.

 **.**

My only experience with horses was when Lady Hinode tried to teach me, and those weren't the best experiences. She was a peerless horsewoman while I was a bumbling oaf who couldn't ride worth anything else. The first three times I tried, the horse would get angry, buck and neigh up a storm until I fell off into a puddle of pain from the throw when I hit the ground.

I knew that is took some experience to be able to ride like this, quickly and being able to tie a hostage, and from the looks of things, he wasn't letting me go anytime soon, not with the rope around my hands, and it cut deep into my skin, the friction burning. I can't tell you how far we got before I was knocked to the ground, dirt pooling around me alongside dust when I hit the ground, but I didn't even make a noise, just looked up at my kidnapper with as much resent as I could, and I was surprised to see someone no older than me. He had spiky, shoulder-length, pale red, almost brown hair and sported a goatee. He gave me a mock bow.

"Milady," He bobbed up and down, and then grinned a charming smile. "It's a pleasure."

"Most likely because you're not tied up."

The man- boy, because no self-respecting man would kidnap a young woman chuckled. "I suppose, and I suppose it could also be because you aren't a very grateful woman. I saved your life." He looked down at me smugly, like he was waiting for me to thank him for kidnapping, and I just stared at him.

"You _saved_ my life? You kidnapped me, tied me up, and tossed me on the ground. May I remind you that you were the one to attack _me_?"

He blanched, "You are a snooty little noble! I'm not a samurai; I'm a traveler of sorts. Yes, I'm a traveler. I saw them attack you and your little friend and rushed in to save you, like any good gentlemen would, because those guys wouldn't be so generous with a beautiful young lady such as yourself, but then again, you'd probably make 'em slit your throat with such a mean attitude."

"I could only hope. So, my dear hero, why am I in rope?"

"I only tied you up because you _bit me twice_."

"I only bit you because you kidnapped me!"

It took me a minute of staring at him intently before I could rightly identify him, not by name, but by appearance, and _he looked too much like Hagaromo Ōtsutsuki for comfort._ I didn't say anything about it, but thoughts were whirling around my head as to why he looked so much like my future son. He flashed that smile again, looking almost trustworthy. "My name is Shinrai, sweetheart." He introduces, and something is very off about him, because while he does look extremely odd compared to others in this world, almost...human, I suppose.

"Tsuki." I reply almost immediately. "My name is Tsuki,"

"Moon?" He laughed, "Please, so noble blood will ever be named something so plain. Maybe, and this is still plain, Tsukibana, but nothing like just plain moon." Shinrai shook his head, patting my shoulders and crouching down. "Not in this _world_ anyway." There was a subtle hinting there, like he didn't expect me to get it, but I did. He's from the Elemental Nations; he's human.

"That's my name." I lied again, "And the man you left behind is my husband, who is going to rip out your tongue when he hears the way you've spoken to me."

Shinrai hummed, "Maybe, if he isn't dead-"

"He isn't." I interrupted, but was promptly ignored.

"If," He repeats. "So let me guess, you two are lovers, but he's lower ranked than you and you were forced to be star crossed lovers? You're running away to the mountains to escape your noble life and seek a small happy home?"

I feigned innocence, if not confusion. "I'm not noble. I didn't run away, and you need to let me go."

"Not a chance, Hime. No civilian looks like you, eyebrows plucked and have you even ever been in the sun?" He questioned, but didn't let me answer before he continued on in his babbles. "I may not know who you are now, but talk reaches here quickly. Someone will report you missing, and the price I'll get on you, whether a princess or noble lady will be hearty. Sorry, sweetie, you're my lucky catch for today." He gave me an almost sympathetic stare, and I glared right back. "Then again, _Tsuki,_ I may be inclined to let you go if you let me know why you're in the mountains since you insist you didn't run away with your supposed _husband_."

"You act so charming, and yet you're such a savage. I am inclined to tell you if you let me out of these ropes. I swear not to bite you again,"

Shinrai isn't as dumb as I supposed, and ignored my comment all together. He waited for my answer, and I smiled, because even if he knew, it didn't matter, the man was civilized, but I highly doubted he knew of it or anything about this little mission. "We're looking for Konran no Mizūmi."

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "You mean the Kindan no ike?"

"The portal to another world?" I narrowed my eyes, genuinely surprised.

"That takes you into a place with a demonic tree? Yeah, the Kindan no ike."

"It seems we have different names for it, but yes, I'm going there now, well I was until _this_ happened." I reply dryly, and suddenly metal glints. I freeze; terrified my mouth and my mission have been pushed too far, so I slowly inch backwards, when he slashes downwards, for the blow.

The rope is gone off my hands, and he is pulling me up while my mind comes to terms with the fact that I wasn't _dead_ , not again. I stared in shock at the man, who seemed to be melting down, muttering fuck under his breath, lost and confused, in his own mind.

"I-"

"Only one other person called it that...Your friends with that crazy lady with the scroll aren't you?"

"Crazy lady with a scroll...?"

He balled his hands into his shirt, looking frustrated and a bit worried. "Empress Lady or something, crazy. Crazy."

"Gekkō? The Empress?"

"Yūgana tsuma, is what she called herself, but yes the Ōtsutsuki empress." He began muttering; running a hand through his hair, then looked at me with wide eyes, like he realized something, and then cursed. "You're the new Ōtsutsuki matriarch, aren't you? I kidnapped Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, kuso."

"You knew the Empress?"

"The crazy women jumped through the waters and came to my world, then took me through it, just because she said she liked my charms." He groaned, looking at the sky. "The woman will haunt me from the grave. Kuso, get on the horse; we'll get you through the portal. We have to go fetch that boy that was with you if he's not chopped into pieces by now."

"Are you going to explain any of this to me?"

"Maybe another time, Hime. I owe her a debt, that's all, and I don't want her spirit coming after me for trying to sell you while you were trying to finish your duty as peace bringer. Crazy women will, you know." He mounted his horse, holding one hand out to me, and I stared in disgust.

" _You kidnapped me."_ I hissed with all the fury an enraged woman could possess in a single moment in times of confusion and adrenaline. "I am not going anywhere with you." Hatred pulsed through my veins, hot and angry. "How the hell do you know Gekkō?" I

"Dammit, Hime, just get on. I didn't know it was you I was taking, okay? I... _Amaterasu_..." He starts to murmur under his breath, shallow words I can't hear, before he looks up. "I apologize. But if you wanna make it to see if your 'husband' is alive, then we have to hurry it up." He looked at me expectantly. "That crazy woman will haunt me if I don't help; she's crazy enough to do it." I glared at his offered hand, and then slid onto the back of it with relative ease, shedding the wool cloak in favor of having more accessibility.

I cannot, in conscious, tell you what the Empress did with this man, but I do know that she somehow managed to make my life a whole lot easier while dead. That crazy woman still can't give up control even in her grave.

The thought itself made me smile. _Just a tad._

 **焔**

Asahi attacked before we even got close to where we left him in the denseness of the forests, knocking Shinrai off his horse before either of knew what was happening. I tossed myself off the back of the animal as my dearest friend began beating the living hell out of the other man, kicking him in the chest with the stone leg, his katana gripped in his right hand, stained with blood, and I rushed forward to yank his arm back.

"Stop!" I shrieked. "We need this idiot alive!"

"Yeah," Shinrai groaned in pain. "You need me ali- Did you call me an idiot?"

"Are you okay, hime?" My guardian asked, pointing the sword at the soft flesh of neck on the man in the dirt, and I had his other arm in my grip, digging my nails in to make sure he didn't attempt murder yet, not when this man had the approval of my friend, my beloved empress.

"Fine. I'll explain later," I paused, looking at the thick crimson on his clothes, and went to touch him, frowning. "Are you alright?" I tried to pull his shirt open, but he swatted my hand away like it was burning.

"I'm alive."

"I remember Ishii saying that when you came back from the war and you came back legless, let me see."

"Just a scrap from the edge of blade," He looked down at Shinrai, pressing his foot into the man's ribs until he cried out, and then leaned down to his level, "You're lucky she was here." He gave a final kick that wasn't too strong because of my dark stare, and I followed him over towards the horse, and he looked at the sky, nodding approvingly at where the mountain was compared to where it was earlier.

"We're close. Why do we need _him_?"

"He'll take us to the Konran and then lead us while in the other world; he's not like us, he's from there."

Shinrai looked up; shaking from the small beating he just received before I could stop it. "I am?"

"You are." Asahi told him, dark eyes narrowed. I had never seen this killing intent in the man before, so I moved in between the two slowly, if just to guard the supposedly _charming_ idiot who decided to challenge the authority of my guard. "And anything else she wants."

"I think I liked you better as Tsuki." He commented softly, and I laughed. Asahi jerked him onto his feet roughly, and then sheathed his sword, realizing the man wasn't that much a threat. He had horseman skills, but Asahi had sized him up enough to know he would win in a fight.

"Oh please, my parents would never name their princess so plainly." I recited. "Not in this _world._ "

He scowled at me, "Snooty noble."

Asahi slipped his hand into mine as we began the journey, and I pretended not to notice Asahi step on his feet when we passed by, and I certainly _didn't see_ when my red headed guardian kicked the other man's knees out from under him.

 **..**

The walk itself takes the rest of the day due to all the setbacks, and it is difficult to navigate through the darkness to the cave, so they light a torch with a piece of wood and a flint, and we follow our guide through the darkness, the cave close and our anxieties even closer. I force Asahi to keep his hand in mine, and I wander seemingly aimless, dodging rocks and small holes that would trip me up, and I was actually navigating well in only the light of the fire.

"So, are you going to explain how you know the Empress?"

"That crazy bit-"

"I'd stop _right there_."

He gave me a wry smile. "She came out here, plotting and planning, you know, found the holy waters and tossed herself in. She came up gasping near the pond by my house, her entire outfit soaked- it was silk and satin, the good stuff- and she just glared at me, like I _was crazy_!"

"That sounds like her."

"She started yelling about a monk and a moon, and I didn't even know what it was. A moon! We don't have one, not where I'm from." He paused, touching the end of his sleeves were the thread was flayed, but satin-like yellow shaped into a crescent was left, untouched by the worn fabric. "It's bad where I live too, but here is different. They have something about them, the kids, elders, they have hope. We didn't have that. I didn't have that, and she just came marching into my little hut, tossing herself around in disbelief."

"She gave you a second chance, didn't she?" Asashi questions, quietly. "The Dowager Empress gave you hope."

Shinrai let out a lifeless chuckle, "No. She gave me money. Gold and silver that got me through until I was on my feet well enough to start trading, and she gave me a way out. Things are more civilized, advanced out here."

"That's why you owe her." I concluded. "She gave you wealth."

"She gave me a chance, which was enough. I didn't get hope from one inspiration speech or just because of a smile." He told me, and I may have laughed if he didn't sound so serious, because he may need to have this speech with _Naruto Uzumaki if this was his true belief_. "I got hope because there were still people left who didn't want to paint the ground red with blood for revenge or fun. There was at least one person left willing to help someone else out without anything in return, but just to be nice."

My insides clenched, because Gekkō was that, and much more. What she lacked mentally, she fulfilled in her actions to her people and to her decreased daughter. She was a friend, _my_ friend, like Asahi and she still managed to meddle into everything more than he ever could.

"So-" My breath hitched and stared off into the darkness, careful of my step into the unseen. "She told you about the prophecy she's concocted?"

"Yeah," Shinrai shrugged. "I didn't know about Scary-Guy over there, but I at least knew one of her daughters would come, never thought she was the Clan Matriarch."

"Here," The light in front of us ducks away and Asahi tugs me forward, following the man into the darkness of the cave, and I lose my footing, just a bit and stumble into the barely lit cavern of cold rock. I was wrong my navigational skills were still, very poor.

"This is it." Shinrai calls out, and it sounds almost maddening loud in the small, hollow space. Asahi nudges my shoulder, and I take two steps closer to this strange place. The man raises his torch, the orange lighting illuminating the path in front of us, the terrain was rough, ragged and not well used except for maybe just the traveler. Asahi has his arms wrapped around me when we stumble in, while Shinrai seems amused as hell to see us struggle while he walks like it is nothing, like he is used to it- he is, so why he has the _nerve_ to make jokes in his head about us is...

"Let me see the scroll," Asahi whispers into my ear, and I grab at my satchel, removing the worn piece of writing from my possessions, tossing it to him. His dark eyes narrowed in the darkness, not asking for Shinrai to give him light, instead just using what he could get by being close to read it. He nodded his confirmation. "This is the truest location we can get from this,"

"Truest like it correct or are you estimating?"

"Is there a difference when it comes to this world?"

I chuckled lowly, "I suppose there isn't." My companion stopped, tightening his grip on me in that moment (I was still shorter) so I jumped and twisted to see what exactly was up ahead. I paused to when I saw the famed the waters of some blind monk. It didn't look like water- not blue or clear, but a scarily glowing greenish coloring. It was strangely enough the most entrancing I had ever seen in either lives, which made my heart pound and stomach twist nervously in anxiety induced _pleasure._ It was strange- like my entire being was made for the waters of this place, like I was a part of it, and without my willing, I took two steps forward.

"You feel it too...?" Asahi trailed off, and then his eyes snapped back, dulled dark turning shiny. "Kaguya-" It sounded like he was underwater- was this like a Genjustsu? I took another two steps forward, not even feeling my body, but knowing I had tugged my arm away from his grip.

I heard Shinrai question him, "Is she okay?"

I swallowed hard, moving closer and closer, just kept going more and more. Asahi was steps behind me, trying to stop me with a firm hand on my shoulder, while our new companion was standing in front of the water, trying to figure what was going on- not that it would help, even I don't know what was going on.

"Kaguya-"

 _I dove into the water._

 **焔**

 ** _A/N:_** _I have, of course, returned after a long bout of illness and tiredness, so here is an early Easter present, my dear reviews. It is a bit longer than usual and written on only three hours of sleep, but I am proud of it none the less!_

 _Also, I have been re-watching all the original Naruto episodes on Netflix, and Naruto Uzumaki was the silliest little guy in his youth, I swear. It's almost bittersweet, you know? Everything has gotten so serious when in reality, Naruto's beginning was a goofy, knucklehead ninja who was terrified of ghosts and wasted his Rasengan on making Ramen Noodles instead of saving Ayame with that technique. Ah..._

 _The Good Old Days..._

 _Anyway, there will be more updates with more detailing and perhaps more of this new..."traveler" Shinrai. If you feel like it, drop a review, what you like, what you don't like, or even just guess who this new character is._

 _Yours Truly,_

 _Ender_


End file.
